Doug Jones still has faith in the people of Alabama. How that can be, I have no idea. But he does. Trust me, I asked him, and then asked him if he was sure. And then asked if he heard the question correctly.
Current polling has Jones, Alabama’s current U.S. senator, trailing challenger Tommy Tuberville by double digits. Jones is a Democrat. Tuberville is a Republican. And that is the only reason for the state of the polls.
It doesn’t matter that Jones has been anything but a liberal during his two years in D.C. He’s sponsored more bipartisan legislation than any other senator, and he’s generally well liked by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Even here in Alabama, among those who plan to vote for his opponent, the knocks on Jones are vague and lacking in substance. For most, there’s no real vitriol or outrage. It’s almost as if the people of the state are pre-programmed to zombie-walk into a voting booth and vote for the GOP candidate because, well, hell, that’s what everyone else is doing.
Forget, of course, that the GOP candidate in this instance is an unprepared carpetbagger who doesn’t live in this state and who doesn’t know really basic stuff about governance, like what the Voting Rights Act is, and who doesn’t have a position on anything. That candidate is also currently in hiding, refusing to speak publicly or have any of his campaign events recorded, apparently believing that Alabama voters would rather vote for a comatose imbecile with an R beside his name than a qualified Democrat.
It’s pathetic.
But for some reason, Jones still has faith.
“I think this state is full of fair minded people,” Jones said. “If you look back to 2017 and what happened with our campaign, the people of this state proved that they will take a look at a better candidate. Our problem as Democrats in this state is that for so long we haven’t had the resources to get our messages out, to promote good candidates all over the state, to give people that other option. That’s going to change.”
It already has.
No matter what happens in Jones’ Senate race, perhaps the biggest change in Alabama politics moving forward has already occurred — Jones and his faction of the Alabama Democratic Party, the Reform Caucus, wrestled control of the party away from Joe Reed and Nancy Worley last year. That changeover has resulted in a new energy within the party, particularly among younger voters and women, and it has helped spur what has been ADP’s most profitable year of fundraising in years.
There have been growing pains, and quite a few people have learned that building a party almost from scratch is not an easy or quick task. But ADP, at this point in time, is finally in a position to start identifying quality candidates, attacking vulnerable ALGOP incumbents and establishing a viable second party in this state.
“You can’t build a house without a foundation,” Jones said. “What we did in 2017 is lay a good foundation. The house isn’t built yet, but you can definitely see the framing.”
That is not to say that Jones is giving up on his race with Tuberville. Polling in Alabama is notoriously unreliable, and he still sees a handful of pathways to victory.
Without the straight ticket voting option on Alabama ballots, the race would be neck and neck, and Jones might actually have a slight advantage.
And why wouldn’t he?
I mean, for God’s sake, it’s not like things are great under Republican rule. We’re last in almost everything good and first in almost everything bad. From education to health care to infrastructure to ethical government, tell me where things are going swell, please.
Even in the good economy (thanks, Obama!) prior to COVID, this state’s jobs numbers were built on low-wage, service-industry gigs that vanished like smoke at the first sign of economic trouble.
“Besides send a bunch of people from their party to prison, what have (Alabama Republicans) done in the 10 years they’ve been in charge?” Jones said. “Everything is worse. Sure, they’ve attracted some businesses in here — and that’s the thing they talk about — but what has that done for us?”
Not much.
Our schools are still near the bottom. Our health care system is bordering on third-world, and at least five hospitals are on the verge of economic collapse right now. We can’t manage to get people the unemployment compensation they’re owed. We have no plan for coronavirus and Alabama Republican leadership, outside of Gov. Kay Ivey, hasn’t even bothered to pretend to address the situation.
And with all of that going on, Alabama voters are preparing to send a candidate to the U.S. Senate who hasn’t offered a single detailed plan for any of those problems. Instead, Tuberville has rolled around the state saying “Donald Trump” as often as possible and literally telling people that he doesn’t know how to solve tough problems.
But Jones won’t give up on those voters. He’s going to continue his campaign, continue to spread his message, continue to let people know that there is at least one person in the race who’s actually trying to address the state’s problems.
“Democrats have done a lot for this state over the years,” Jones said. “I think there are still a lot of people out there who know that.”
