Democrats are in danger of learning the wrong lessons after the special Alabama Senate election.
A Doug Jones victory would usher in overconfidence, despite the fact that former Judge Roy Moore is a historically flawed candidate. A Doug Jones loss would invite bitterness at a backward electorate. But neither helps Democrats win back the Senate.
Overhyped but easy to understand, the race, as the New Yorker recently observed, has become “a face-off between the morality of sexual predation and the morality of abortion.” And while Moore has managed to blunt allegations of inappropriate relations with underage girls, Jones can’t seem to shake his earlier comments about late-term abortion.
Jones alienated much of Alabama in less than 30-seconds back in September. During an interview with NBC’s Chuck Todd, the Democrat promised to oppose “anything that is going to infringe on a woman’s right and her freedom to choose.” Presumably that includes abortion after 20 weeks and, sensing an obvious opportunity, the Moore campaign pounced.
Ever since, Moore has repeatedly hammered Jones for his support of “late-term abortion.” In Alabama, that’s a smart move.
“I don’t think you’ll be very successful in Alabama,” explained Abraham Hamilton, general counsel and public policy analyst for the American Family Association, “being a person who supports abortion through the ninth month.” According to a 2014 Pew Research Center Study, he’s right.
Altogether 58 percent of adults in Alabama believe that abortion should be “illegal in all or most cases.” If they vote their conscience on Tuesday, Moore will seize the upper moral hand and easily defeat Jones, preserve the Republican Senate majority, and help advance backward stereotypes about the state.
It never had to be this way, though. With a little flexibility, Democrats could have sidestepped the issue altogether. Take a benign stance on social issues. Push a healthy liberal populism. Focus on the moral failings of Moore. That’s how to give a blue candidate a fighting chance in deep red Alabama, where Trump won by nearly 30 points.
Democrats are loath to do this. Given a chance to score a rare and similar victory in the Omaha mayoral race, the party hung out one of their own to dry because of his anti-abortion platform, despite his lead over the Republican. The party is on track to repeat the same self-defeating mistake in 2018.
A little flexibility on abortion orthodoxy would go a long way for Democrats defending 10 Senate seats in a state that Trump won. More than just defensive, easing up on the social issues could perhaps help them gain a foothold in purples states like Arizona. But win or lose in Alabama, there seems little hope Democrats will ease up on their abortion ideology — even when it’s in their best interest.
