Birmingham, Ala.
At times, Doug Jones has tried to make his Senate race against Roy Moore about the issues. The Democratic candidate began his campaign running on a mainstream liberal platform—not running from it. He’s saved room to appeal to conservatives; at 6:30 on a dreary morning in the northern Alabama town of Decatur, his voice emanates from the radio speakers. “If you saw the number of guns I own, you’d know I’m a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and for judges that support it,” he says. “I’m for lower taxes on the middle class, against deficits, for a strong military, and for your right to see a doctor whenever you’re sick.” Above all, Jones desires bipartisanship, his advisers have said.
But a week before Election Day, the Birmingham Democrat stopped tacking left and right and instead went straight up the gut.
“Will we tell our daughters that if you’re abused and you speak out, you will be believed, and Alabama will stand with you regardless of when you come forward?” he asked from behind the rare sight of a lectern this campaign. “Or will we tell our young sons that this behavior, this disturbing behavior, is OK—if you’re powerful enough or important enough, Alabama will simply look the other way.”
For the most memorable chunks of a 20-minute speech, Jones framed his contest against Moore as a moral choice more than one between a Democrat and a Republican.
“I believe women are every bit as capable as men, that they deserve to be elected to public office, and I damn sure believe and have done my part to ensure that men who hurt little girls should go to jail, not to the U.S. Senate,” Jones said.
Moore has adamantly denied he molested 14-year-old Leigh Corfman and assaulted 16-year-old Beverly Young Nelson when he was in his 30s, almost four decades ago. Some of Moore’s strongest supporters have questioned their accounts—Breitbart has attempted to discredit Corfman’s story with incomplete and irrelevant evidence, while many Alabama conservatives reflexively distrust Nelson for her representation, attorney Gloria Allred, and a yearbook note Moore allegedly wrote her that his campaign says was forged. Several other women have said Moore pursued them when they were over 16 but still in high school.
“Folks, by any objective standard or review that examines the extensive corroboration of the statements of these women—and significantly, the inconsistencies of Roy Moore’s denials—it is crystal clear that these women are telling the truth and Roy Moore is not,” Jones said.
“As I have said before, I believe these women. And so should you.”
Alabama politics were consumed by a different sex scandal recently, when ex-Gov. Robert Bentley resigned in April after concealing an alleged affair with an aide and pleading guilty to two misdemeanors related to the cover-up. Jones linked the matter to the one the state is experiencing now.
“We didn’t look the other way with Robert Bentley when his conduct involved consenting adults, and we cannot do it now when it involves children, no matter how long ago it might have occurred,” he said.
Jones argued that reacting to the accusations against Moore “is about decency, not a political party, and anyone who thinks otherwise should be ashamed.” Many Alabama Republicans have their own reasons for being skeptical of the allegations, from timing to criticism of the mainstream media to wanting “proof” that Moore behaved as charged. Whatever their justifications, they comprise a majority of their state party. A CBS poll conducted between Nov. 28 and Dec. 1 found that 71 percent of likely GOP voters don’t believe the allegations.
That same survey showed the Moore-Jones race tied among the registered voters polled. Among likely voters, though, Moore leads 49 to 43 percent.
