Republicans have been critical of a recent statement by U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D) in which he told a crowd “we will end up supporting the nominee.”
The comments last week were seized upon by Republicans eager to push the narrative that Jones is too liberal for Alabama.
“Whatever we’re going to do, we will end up supporting the nominee,” Jones told Alabama voters on Friday. “I’m not going to run away from that. And I’m going to hope to have some of my colleagues come down here.”
His GOP opponents, former Chief Justice Roy Moore, Congressman Bradley Byrne, and former Auburn football Coach Tommy Tuberville all sent statement to the Alabama Political Reporter critical of Jones’ comments.
“I fully expected Doug Jones to support the Democratic presidential nominee, no matter how immoral, liberal, socialist, or un-American their agenda might be,” Judge Moore told APR in an email.
“While Doug Jones is promising to support the Democrat nominee no matter who it is or what crazy Socialist policies they support, I am proud to stand with President Trump and his pro-Wall, pro-Life, and pro-Job agenda,” Rep. Byrne told APR in an email. “The people of Alabama will support President Trump and a conservative fighter for Senate, not Doug Jones and the Socialist Democrats.”
“Doug Jones is as liberal as they get,” Coach Tuberville told APR. “He’s completely out of step with Alabama voters. From supporting Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, to voting against confirming Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, Senator Jones is a radical leftist that does not represent our Alabama values. It should be no surprise that he will support whatever socialist the Democrats nominate for President.”
“The future of our country is at stake in this election!” Chief Justice Moore added.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee is releasing a new video today tying Doug Jones to the 2020 presidential candidates ahead of the Tuesday and Wednesday night debates, NRSC Press Secretary Nathan Brand told APR.
Ten of the twenty Democratic presidential candidates will be in a debate tonight on CNN. Ten more will be in the CNN debate on Wednesday night. Four were left out by the Democratic National Committee rules.
Brand told APR that the Democratic candidates for president have announced their support for imposing higher taxes, banning employer-based health insurance, providing free health coverage for illegal immigrants, decriminalizing illegal immigration, and many other radical big government proposals.
“The voters of Alabama know that anti-Trump Democrat Doug Jones has embraced the socialist agenda of the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates that will be on the debate stage this week,” Brand said.
“His pledge to support any of these clowns for president is a reminder that Doug Jones will put his party and their socialist agenda ahead of the principles and priorities of Alabama voters.”
Jones has endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden (D) for President; but his comments on Friday seem to indicate that Jones believes that any of the 24 Democratic candidates would be a better President than Donald J. Trump (R).
GOP voters will pick the Republican nominee in a primary election on March 3. At present, Jones does not have a Democratic primary opponent.
In addition to Moore, Byrne, and Tuberville; Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, State Representative Arnold Mooney, and businessman Stanley Adair are also running for the nomination.
Jones narrowly defeated Moore in a special election in December 2017. Jones is the only Democrat to win any statewide race in Alabama since 2008 and is widely considered to be the Democratic Senate incumbent that Republicans are most targeting in 2020.
(Original reporting by Real Clear Politics contributed to this report.)
