Incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Jones held a re-election rally in Leeds on Monday at the soon-to-reopen drive-in theater at Grand River.
Participants were in their cars listening to Jones speak on stage over their car radios or sitting in lawn chairs by their cars to allow for all of the necessary social distancing. Jones and the other speakers appeared on stage but were also simulcast on the massive movie screens across the property.
Throughout the night, the crowd voiced their support by blowing the horns of their cars.
“This is a different time, but it is a special time,” Jones said. “We are going to be safe and follow the science, not what these other guys are doing.”
“Everything we have done in 2017, everything we have done in the U.S. Senate is about one Alabama,” Jones said. “The other side seeks to divide us.”
“It is time for Tommy Tuberville and his group to get on the right side of history, instead of being on the wrong side of history,” Jones said.
Jones said that he and former Vice President Joe Biden talked in 2017 and Biden told Jones he had “the opportunity to redeem the soul of Alabama.”
“In October, Joe Biden came to Birmingham in a race that no one thought we could win because he believed not in me but because he believed in you,” Jones said.
“It is my great pleasure to introduce to you the next president of the United States Joseph R. Biden,” Jones said, introducing a video message from Biden.
“We need real leadership in America right now,” Biden said. “You need to send my great friend Doug Jones back to Washington. We need him now more than ever.”
“I have always dreamed of addressing a Democratic convention,” Jones said. “I want to thank Joe Biden for giving me that opportunity.”
Jones said that as a freshman Senator from the minority party, he was able to introduce and pass 21 bills.
“In 2017, I went to sleep as the most celebrated Democrat since Barack and Michelle, and I woke up as the most vulnerable Democrat in 2020,” he said.
Jones slammed Tuberville over his hedge fund scandal, saying, “You can not let that go.”
Jones said over and over about Tuberville, “He does not have a clue.”
“I ain’t going to give up on Medicaid expansion. It is going to happen,” Jones said.
“We have done more for farmers in the last two years than have been done in a long, long time,” Jones added.
“Think back to Dec. 12 of 2017 not because we won, but because we made a statement,” Jones said. “This is what we are going to replicate. Alabama is going to move forward.”
Jones’ wife Louise Jones said, “Guys, we have a lot of work to do in 57 days.”
“Thank you for being with us in 2017, especially women,” she said. “We could not have done it without you and I hope that you will be with us again in November.”
Darryl Turner is the vice president of the AFL-CIO.
“He has worked continually to support labor laws,” Turner said. “Doug was born here, raised here and went to public schools here.”
“He works across the aisle to get things done,” Turner said.
State Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, is the chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party.
“Traditionally Labor Day is a day we celebrate labor, the people who make the things we need,” England said. “It is also traditionally a day that we kick off the Fall campaign and I can think of no place better to be than here with Doug Jones.”
“The guy he is running against has no business being on a ballot, much less being a United States Senator,” England said of Republican Nominee coach Tommy Tuberville. “He is probably watching this tonight from Florida.”
“Doug clearly has our backs now; it is time that we have Doug’s back,” England said. “Getting Doug re-elected is our mission.”
England is calling on Democrats to go to their county courthouse and vote absentee.
“Every day is election day, because on Wednesday we go to the polls and start sending a message to our Republican opposition that we are here and we are here to win,” England said. “I need your commitment to vote, but also to get other people to vote.”
