(ANTIMEDIA) Birmingham, Alabama — The people of Alabama have spoken. Doug Jones will become the first Democrat to represent the Heart of Dixie in the United States Senate in over 20 years.
Tuesday night’s election signaled a change in American politics, in our nation’s ideals, and the hope for our future. The blue team won and sent a message bellowing across the political stratosphere that if Alabama can go Democrat, the rest of the country could soon succumb to the youthful and progressive values of the party. Roy Moore and the Grand Old Party were rejected by one the reddest states in the union. Surely, the left’s time has come. Or has it?
Sorry for the bubble bursting reality check, but once the emotions of Moore’s defeat fade into history, Jones’ victory won’t mean a whole lot for the Democrats. Sure, Moore won’t become one of two voices in the U.S. Senate for almost 5 million Alabamians. If that was your ultimate and only goal, congratulations. Many Republicans, including Mitt Romney, also wanted Jones to win, but bipartisan high-fives are certainly not a victory for Democrats in the divisive world of politics. For those who believe Jones’ win marks the beginning stages of a progressive revolution, all you really achieved was a single night of cheers alongside other naive voters.
For Doug Jones’ election triumph to mean anything moving forward, he has to win reelection in 2020. That’s right, he doesn’t get six years in office, as is the normal term for a U.S. senator. He gets less than two due to Jeff Sessions appointment as Attorney General, which led to Alabama holding a special election. There’s good news, though Democrats. Doug Jones did win once, and he can replicate those results and procure victory in 2020. Here’s how:
Doug Jones will need to behave more like a moderate Republican than a progressive democrat. Doug Jones will be free to cast his votes in the Senate as he chooses, and he’ll possibly vote along Democratic lines to be a wrench in Trump’s agenda. But if he has any political aptitude and ambition to win in 2020, he will have to bend to and placate conservative voters who sat out Tuesday’s election. This is probably not what Democrats were voting for. Jones even actually campaigned on expanding an already bloated military budget and for increasing the size of the military-industrial complex without any resistance from his supposed war-weary electoral base.
Doug Jones will need Republican money. Surprise! A large portion of money that went towards negative advertisements against Jones’ opponent were paid for with Republican dollars. The Senate Leadership Fund is a political PAC that put over $2 million into the coffers of Moore’s primary opponent and current (although temporary) U.S. Senator Luther Strange. The SLF also spent $4.3 million in negative ads against fellow Republican Roy Moore during the election. In total, $7.1 million was spent in negative ads against Moore via PAC donations over the course of his campaign.
Doug Jones will need de facto endorsements from Republicans, as well as celebrities in his corner. Not only did Alabama’s other sitting U.S. Senator, Richard Shelby, not endorse his fellow Republican in the race, but he also publicly stated he could not even vote for Moore. Instead, he chose to write-in a candidate on his ballot sheet. University of Alabama graduate and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also publicly decried Moore and urged members of the GOP to withhold their support on election day. Many other Republican figures around the country also spoke out against Moore, including Paul Ryan, Mike Lee, and John McCain.
Celebrities from around the nation joined the pile-on and expressed their disgust with Roy Moore, offering their support to Doug Jones. Actress Alyssa Milano even traveled to Alabama to canvass for Jones. When the soon-to-be senator seeks reelection in 2020, all eyes won’t be on Alabama as was the case with the special election. It will take place on the same day as a presidential election, which will more than likely include Donald Trump. That election will by far overshadow any vote taking place for a Senate seat in Alabama. Other than local names, there will not be any celebrities going out of their way herald Doug Jones. He won’t be running against an accused pedophile (I can only assume that, who really knows at this point in world events), and no one outside state lines will care. Jones will be forgotten by the masses who just praised his election.
An accused murderer or pedophile will more than likely need to be the Republican nominee. I mean, the GOP just nominated an accused pedophile, and Jones, by the narrowest of margins, was able to beat him. Roy Moore was one the worst political candidates to ever run for office in the modern political era. He had multiple major scandals, he was twice-ousted from office as Chief Justice of Alabama, he had sexual assault accusations made by minors against him, and he made various inflammatory statements. Roy Moore should not have been nominated for dog catcher much less a U.S. senator, and Doug Jones was only narrowly barely able to secure a win.
Ultimately, Doug Jones didn’t truly win anything Tuesday night, nor did the Democratic party. In actuality, different factions simply banded together to ensure Roy Moore would not be the victor, and Doug Jones just happened to be his opponent. Doug Jones isn’t a political savior or a progressive hero. He’s lucky. He’s lucky the GOP didn’t run an actual dogcatcher instead of Moore.
As long as he wasn’t running around Chuck E. Cheese trying to pick up dates, we’d have Senator Dogcatcher soon to be sworn into office.
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