AT FIRST, the mood at Doug Jones’s election-night party was genial but uneasy. Guests knew Mr Jones was closer to winning a Senate seat than any Democrat in a quarter-century; they also knew that Donald Trump won Alabama by 28 points, and the last two Republican Senate candidates won 64% and 97.3% of the vote. So they smiled, and made all the right hopeful noises, but around the corners of their eyes you could see them bracing for disappointment. Rural votes came in first; they solidly favoured Roy Moore, the Republican candidate. But as the night wore on, Mr Moore’s lead shrank. As votes from Alabama’s cities returned, it vanished. When networks finally called the race for Mr Jones, just before 9.30pm local time, the crowd’s scream was almost primal, as much disbelieving relief as joy. Mr Jones captured their mood in the first sentence of his victory speech: “I think that I have been waiting all my life, and now I just don’t know what the hell to say.”
The result is both a...Continue reading
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