Virginia Martin

Moore Issues Video Statement Saying He Will Continue to Fight for the U.S. Senate Seat

Roy Moore said again Thursday that he would not concede the U.S. Senate election, issuing a video statement in which he said the race was too close, some ballots were still out, and he believed “the heart and soul of our country is at stake” in the election. Vote tallies from Tuesday showed Doug Jones beating Moore by about 20,000 votes, but the vote will not be certified until Dec. 26 to Jan. 3. You can watch the 4:46 video in full here.

by Virginia Martin

Beware the Stampede! News Media From Across the Globe Flocked to Alabama for Special Senate Election

The man who had hours before pulled off one of the biggest upsets in Alabama political history was quipping Wednesday about business development, of sorts. “Folks, once again, let me say this. I have appreciated all that you have done for the Alabama economy, coming down here.” Democrat Doug Jones, newly elected to the U.S. Senate, was talking to the throngs of reporters, photographers and camera crews — collectively known as “the media” — who descended on Alabama from across the nation and around the world, representing an unprecedented interest in Alabama’s often-colorful politics. Read more.

by Robert Carter and Sam Prickett

Doug Jones’ Search for Common Ground: Jones Talks About His Intentions, His Opponent and His Route to the U.S. Senate

In his first press conference since being elected senator, Doug Jones reiterated his desire to find “common ground” on both sides of the political aisle and dismissed his opponent’s refusal to concede the election. Jones defeated the twice-deposed Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore by roughly 20,000 votes Tuesday night, a surprise Democratic win in a state that for decades has been considered a Republican stronghold. However, Moore has not conceded the race, telling supporters that “when the vote is this close … it’s not over.” For the most part, Jones’ responses to reporters’ questions were conciliatory, stressing the need to find “common ground” — a phrase he repeated 12 times during the press conference — in the midst of a divisive political climate. “I know I’m just sounding like a broken record (when I) talk about that,” Jones said, “but I just think it is so important that we try to sit down at a table and talk about issues and talk about the things that matter in the big picture … . I want to try to find those issues more and more that we can find common ground on, and let’s just agree to disagree on those issues that are so divisive that it’s hard to even talk to people about them.” Read more. Is There Life After Doug Jones for Alabama Democrats? God and Politics, 2017 Edition: Roy Moore Brings Religion to the Forefront Like Few Campaigns Before It

by Sam Prickett

Gardendale School-Separation Arguments Going Before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday

The latest step in the long-running effort by the city of Gardendale to form its own school system is a stop at the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta. On Thursday morning, a panel of three judges will hear oral arguments in an appeal from attorneys for the Gardendale Board of Education, as well as a cross-appeal from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund. Both are appealing a ruling U.S. Circuit Judge Madeline Haikala issued in April, in which she determined that the city’s efforts to break away from the Jefferson County Schools was racially motivated. However, the ruling still allowed Gardendale to take control of the two elementary schools, with the provision that the city could take over Gardendale High and Bragg Middle schools some time later, after Haikala could determine that no racial discrimination of any kind was present. Gardendale’s appeal says that Haikala should have given the city full control of all four schools from the start. The NAACP counters that her determination that racial motives were involved in the formation of the system precludes the courts from allowing the breakaway to take place at all. Read more.

by Robert Carter

What They’re Saying

Once a Long Shot, Democrat Doug Jones Wins Alabama Senate Race (New York Times) Trump: ‘I Said Roy Moore Will Not Be Able to Win’ in Alabama (New York Times) Doug Jones’s Victory Scrambles the Republican Congressional Agenda (Washington Post) Meet Doug Jones, the Law-and-Order Democrat Who Won Alabama's Senate Seat (Los Angels Times, with video) Analysis: In Stunning 2017 Defeats, Republicans See Vision of Difficulties in 2018 (Los Angeles Times) Democrat Jones Wins Stunning Red-State Alabama Senate Upset (Associated Press)

by Virginia Martin

County by County Senate Race Results

See the U.S. Senate special election results statewide and for each county. Read more.

by Cheryl Slocum

Doug Jones Wins. Democrats Land U.S. Senate Seat for First Time in 25 Years.

Doug Jones became the first Democrat to be elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama in 25 years Tuesday night when he beat Republican Roy Moore, initially presumed to be the frontrunner in the race, by a margin of 20,715 votes. Jones’s campaign party morphed from hopeful to ecstatic in a matter of moments when vote returns suddenly turned in his favor and then the race was called on his behalf shortly before 10 p.m. “Folks, I gotta tell you. I think that I have been waiting all my life and now I just don’t know what the hell to say,” Jones told jubilant supporters gathered at the Sheraton in Birmingham. “At the end of the day, this entire race has been about dignity and respect. This campaign, this campaign has been about the rule of law,” he told the crowd. It also was about winning over voters and getting them to the polls. Jones said in his speech that his campaign volunteers made 1.2 million phone calls and knocked on about 300,000 doors in the days and weeks before the election. The scene at Moore’s party in Montgomery was much different. There, the night started off upbeat as results showed their candidate with a lead as high as 9 percentage points. But as later returns came in from heavily Democratic areas such as Jefferson County, supporters nervously watched their smartphones, seeing Moore’s lead slowly drift away. And when the room’s video screen showed Jones taking over the lead, the music changed from jazz saxophone to old church hymns. Moore made an appearance at about 10:40 p.m., refusing to concede the race with the margin for Jones so slim. He finished his brief remarks by telling supporters, “Let’s all go home and sleep on this.” With 100 percent of the votes counted, according to Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, Jones won the race 49.92 percent to Moore’s 48.38 percent. The rest were write-in votes. Read more.

by Virginia Martin, Robert Carter, Hank Black and Sam Prickett

The Doug Jones, Roy Moore Race: By the Numbers

The unofficial results of the Special Senate Election posted on the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office tell the dramatic, surprising story by the numbers: Doug Jones, 671,151 votes, 49.92 percent; Roy S. Moore, 650,436 votes, 48.38 percent. Total Ballots Cast, 1,346,147. Voter turnout, 40.46 percent, far more than the 25 percent that Secretary of State John Merrill forecast for the one-race, special election at Christmastime. Within those numbers are results that fashioned a formula for the Democratic candidate to come out ahead in a Deep Red state that voted overwhelmingly for President Donald Trump. Read more. See results from each county.

by Carol Nunnelley

Doug Jones Has Won the Race for the U.S. Senate

Democrat Doug Jones has won the Senate race against Republican Roy Moore, capping a campaign season that has been controversial from start to finish. The Alabama Secretary of State's Office reports that Jones won 48.95 percent of the vote, or 553, 931 votes, to Moore’s 49.49 percent, or 560,083 votes. There were 17,632 write in votes cast. Just 6,152 votes cast by Alabama's 3.3 million voters separated the candidates. Turnout for the day was 34.05 percent. The atmosphere at the Doug Jones results party at the Sheraton was largely positive, with crowds gathering around the television behind the bar. It shifted from lukewarm to boiling in an instant. As soon as the first results came back that put Jones within a percentage point of Moore, the mood in the Sheraton entire place changed. People cheered. People in the crowd repeated said “I really cannot believe it!” Several people were crying at the bar. At the Moore party in Montgomery, the atmosphere turned from lively to funereal as the big county results flipped the lead. Moore spoke to the group gathered at his campaign party, but he did not concede the race. Moore said that with such a tight race, any of a number of factors could flip the result, including any ballots cast by Alabama residents serving abroad in the military that have not yet been received. Also not counted are provisional votes. Moore sent his supporters on their way with the words: “Let’s go home and sleep on it.” However, Secretary of State John Merrill said that all of the absentee votes had been counted, and he did not think military votes would be enough to tip the scale. according to WBRC. He said 100 percent of the precincts had been counted. In a press conference about 11 p.m., Merrill said that the race was close, but not close enough to trip the state’s automatic recount law. He said the candidates would have had to be separated by no more than .5 percent of the vote to have an automatic recount. He said Moore could request a recount at his own expense. But that couldn’t be done until the vote had been certified. Which Merrill said would happen sometime between Dec. 26 and Jan. 3. Read more.

by Virginia Martin, Solomon Crenshaw, Sam Prickett and Robert Carter

City of Birmingham Has a 2018 Budget, Five Months Late. Next up, Zero-Based 2019 Budget

Dec. 12, 2017 — The Birmingham City Council Tuesday approved a budget for the 2018 fiscal year, more than five months after that fiscal year actually started. “We have a budget!” proclaimed Council President Valerie Abbott after the unanimous vote, drawing a standing ovation from many who had gathered in the council chambers. The delay was the result, at first, of an apparent breakdown in communications between former Mayor William Bell and the council. After the Oct. 3 municipal elections, the council further delayed passing the budget until newly elected officials — Mayor Randall Woodfin and the three new councilors — could have their input on the budget. Two weeks into Woodfin’s administration, his office delivered his budget “compromise,” which trimmed significant amounts earmarked for city departments and culture and recreation funding. While most councilors expressed a sense of relief about the passage of a budget, the specifics of the budget drew a more measured response. President Pro Tem Jay Roberson described himself as “elated” that the budget had passed and praised Woodfin for his influence. “I know he was ready to get this behind him, too, and ready to move forward to his next fiscal year for consideration,” he said. “There are some areas that I think need some work, but you can still make adjustments in that process as needed.” Speaking from the dais, District 1 Councilor Lashunda Scales thanked the mayor, but with muted praise. “The mayor knows that all of our expectations are very high with this incoming (2019) budget, and I think mine are probably superlative above,” she said, adding that, “in the spirit of willingness to work with everyone, I didn’t get all the things (I wanted).” But, she said, she was “looking forward” to the next set of budget discussions. “It was six months overdue,” Abbott said after the meeting, calling the delay “embarrassing.” “I would have agreed to almost anything to get our departments back functioning correctly and getting our employees their salary treatments that they desperately need at this time of year,” she added. “Not all of us like the budget, but we never all get what we want. That’s part of life. We’re used to that idea. We have to prioritize; my priority was to get the budget passed. Next year, things might be different.” Read more.

by Sam Prickett