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United States The Economist December 16th 2017 23

Also in this section
24 Deportation
25 Partisanship and the Russia probe
26 Holler promises in Appalachia
28 Lexington: Tinseltown dreams

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Alabama A further reason not to read too much
Where the skies are so blue into the result comes from the extraordi-
nary nature of the candidate match-up.
Politicsisseldom Manichean. Thiselection
really was. Mr Jones is genial and steady,
Mr Moore preening, sour and angry. Mr
Jonesran on policy, talkingabout“kitchen-
BIRMINGHAM and MIDLAND CITY table issues” such as health care and edu-
AprosecutorofKlansmen captures JeffSessions’s old seat, as the Republican cation; apart from hating abortion and
Senate majorityshrinks to one
same-sexmarriage, MrMoore talked about
T FIRST, the mood at Doug Jones’s elec- Clinton and flipped those that Mr Trump little other than his own piety. Mr Jones
Ation-nightpartywasgenial butuneasy. won by 15 points or less, banking lots of was a federal prosecutor who successfully
Guests knew Mr Jones was closer to win- votes in the counties containing Ala- convicted two Klansmen who killed four
ning a Senate seat than any Democrat in a bama’s five biggest cities, and winning big blackgirls in an infamous church bombing
quarter-century; they also knew that Do- margins in the state’s majority-African- in 1963. MrMoore wastwice removed from
nald Trump won Alabama by 28 points, American “Black Belt” counties. Black vot- hispostasAlabama’schiefjustice for flout-
and the last two Republican Senate candi- ers, who usually comprise around a quar- ingfederal law. He believeshomosexuality
dates won 64% and 97.3% of the vote. So ter of Alabama’s electorate, turned out in should be illegal, Muslims should not be
theysmiled, and made all the righthopeful droves. Exit polls suggest they made up allowed to serve in Congress, the constitu-
noises, butaround the cornersoftheir eyes 29%, and that Mr Jones won 96% of their tion exists to foster Christianity and that
youcould see them bracingfordisappoint- votes. Hisstrongperformance in the state’s America was last great “at the time when
ment. Rural votescame in first; they solidly most populous counties suggests that he familieswere united—even though we had
favoured Roy Moore, the Republican can- also flipped some white suburbanites. slavery”. Nine women have accused him
didate. But as the night wore on, Mr Mr Moore, meanwhile, underper- of offences ranging from sexual miscon-
Moore’s lead shrank. As votes from Ala- formed Mr Trump in every one of Ala- duct to assault; most were teenagers at the
bama’s cities returned, it vanished. When bama’s 67 counties, faring especially time of the alleged offences. It is hard to
networks finally called the race for Mr poorly in those with lots of educated vot- imagine many future Senate elections
Jones, just before 9.30pm local time, the ers. White evangelicals—Mr Moore’s core throwing up a Republican candidate so re-
crowd’s scream was almost primal, as supporters—made up a smaller share of pellent that one sitting Republican sena-
much disbelieving relief as joy. Mr Jones the electorate than in past elections. Some tor—Jeff Flake of Arizona—donated money
captured theirmood in the firstsentence of ofthem stayed home, or even voted for Mr to the Democrat’s campaign.
hisvictoryspeech: “I thinkthatI have been Jones, despite vehemently disagreeing When those accusations emerged, oth-
waiting all my life, and now I just don’t with his pro-choice position on abortion. er Republicans distanced themselves from
know what the hell to say.” Rushton Mellen Waltchack, a Christian Mr Moore. Mitch McConnell, the Senate
The resultisboth a historicwin and one and lifelong Republican from Birming- majorityleader, said he believed the wom-
liable to over-interpretation. Special elec- ham, compared Mr Moore to “a televange- en. “If these allegations are true,” said Mr
tions can produce freak results which get list who falls from grace”, and said she Trump’s press secretary, Mr Moore should
overturned a few years later. Moreover, Mr could not bringherselfto vote forhim. “He “do the right thing and step aside”. But as
Jones’s victory was narrow. He took 49.9% makes statements that to me don’t repre- Mr Moore’s polling numbers began to
of the vote to Mr Moore’s 48.4%, with the sent Jesus in the Bible…What does it say creep back up, Mr Trump, also accused of
remaining 1.7% going to write-in votes. He about us as a party if we continue to sexual offences ranging from harassment
won every county that voted for Hillary choose policy overcharacter?” to assault, endorsed him. Other Republi- 1