Democrat Doug Jones defeats Trump-backed Roy Moore for US Senate seat

Jones’ jubliant supporters broke out in cheers at his headquarters in Birmingham at about 10:27 p.m. when Fox News and other media outlets called the race for the Democrat. https://twitter.com/GDouglasJones/status/940786092315471872 The nailbiter was decided by only about 11,000 votes, according to early returns. The result a setback for the president, who endorsed Moore despite the lurid allegations and enthusiastically supported his candidacy because the former Alabama judge vowed to back the president’s agenda if elected. Earlier Tuesday, Trump made it clear today that he was 100 percent behind Moore. “The people of Alabama will do the right thing. Doug Jones is Pro-Abortion, weak on Crime, Military and Illegal Immigration, Bad for Gun Owners and Veterans and against the WALL. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us. VOTE ROY MOORE!” tweeted the commander-in-chief, who is facing his own renewed round of questions over allegations of sexual misconduct. But his own Attorney General played it closer to the vest, refusing to say who he voted for in the Alabama Senate race. Jeff Sessions said he cast an absentee ballot to fill the Senate seat he once held, but he would not say whether he backed the accused sexual predator, Democrat Doug Jones or someone else. “I voted absentee, yes, and I value the sanctity of the ballot,” Sessions said. “I would say the people of Alabama are good and decent, wonderful people. I was proud to serve them in the Senate. They’ll make the right decision.” With a cowboy hat perched on his head, Moore rode up to his polling place on his horse Sassy Tuesday morning to cast his vote at the Gallant Fire Department on Tuesday morning. Jones, in a suit and tie, cast his vote early in the day at the Brookwood Baptist Church in Mountain Brook. Moore, 70, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who was twice bounced from the bench for refusing to enforce federal laws, battling former federal prosecutor Jones, 63, for the Senate seat in the deeply conservative Southern state. At least eight women have accused Moore of sexual harassment, including two who said he groped them when they were teens and he was a local prosecutor inn his 30s. Like Trump, Moore has branded all of his accusers as liars. Democrats have signaled that, if Moore wins, they would try to tar Republicans as insensitive to women’s concerns. Senate Republicans were to meet as a conference on Wednesday to discuss what happens next, sources told NBC News. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP lawmakers had said that Moore would face an ethics probe because of the charges. But a GOP official told CNN that if Moore had won, the president will say the people have spoken and not support an ethics probe. CNN’s early exit polls show Roy Moore winning white voters 70-27%, Doug Jones winning black voters 95 percent to 5 percent. The polling also showed women favoring Jones by 57 percent to 42 percent. Voters had mixed views of the candidates. In Gadsden, Louis Loveman, 73, a retired librarian and self-described life-long Republican, said he voted for Jones. “It’s simple,” he said. “I don’t trust Roy Moore.” “There are too many allegations floating out there for there not to be fire behind all that smoke. I never voted for a Democrat before but I did today,” Loveman said. But voters interviewed outside the polls in Montgomery, the state capital, said the sexual misconduct allegations were inconclusive. “They’re speculation,” said Robert Morrison, 74. Geneva Calvert, 80, said she was voting for Moore because he would help advance Trump’s agenda. ”He stands for what President Trump stands for,” she said. But Peggy Judkins, 48, said she voted for Jones and that Moore was a bad candidate before “all this molesting stuff.” She said, “Moore got thrown out of office two or three times before … So why would you put him back in? That’s crazy.” With Post Wires]]>