In a setback for President Donald Trump, the Democrats have wrested a critical Senate seat from Alabama, reducing the Republicans to a wafer-thin 51-49 majority that is set to make it even more difficult to advance his ambitious legislative agenda.
In a tough battle that produced a virtual photo finish, Democrat Doug Jones prevailed over Roy Moore, the controversial Republican whose campaign came to be all but torpedoed by a string of allegations of sexual abuse and child molestation decades ago when he was in his 30s.
Although Moore vehemently denied all the allegations, he was forsaken by the Republican establishment till the closing days of the campaign when Trump, in a strategic move to prevent a Democratic win, came out in his support and the Republican National Committee resumed its funding for his campaign.
But the scandalous nature of the allegations proved to be too overwhelming for Moore and he ended up losing the race in a State otherwise reputed to be a Republican fortress, where no Democrat has won a Senate seat in the last 25 years. Jones defeated Moore by a 1.5 per cent margin (49.9-48.4), after trailing initially.
Seldom has a single Senate seat hogged the political limelight for weeks as the special election to fill the Alabama vacancy caused by the resignation of Jeff Sessions after Trump appointed him as Attorney General in January.
For Trump, the loss of the Senate seat could pose a new challenge to get some of his important legislative measures through. The Tax Cuts and Reforms Act requires to be passed anew after reconciling the differing versions passed by the Senate and the House in recent days.
Earlier on, despite having 52 Senators, the Republicans failed in their renewed effort to repeal and replace Obamacare – a campaign pledge by Trump. That was because a few Republican Senators, including party veteran John McCain, refused to go along with the repeal.
Now, with one fewer Republican in the chamber, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell could have a tough time in the coming weeks and months. Senator Bob Corker, who has fallen out with Trump, recently voted against the tax legislation.
Trump has been trying to reach out to some Democratic Senators in the “deep red” (pro-Republican) States in a bid to drum up support for some of the critical legislation. Indicating that he could tap the newly-elected Jones as well in this quest, Trump congratulated him on Tuesday night, after having called him a “puppet” of Democratic leadership only the previous day.
“Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory,” Trump tweeted, adding: “The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!”
Moore had been a controversial figure even before the Senate race. A former judge, he was removed from office twice. But the allegations of sexual misconduct, brought to the fore by The Washington Post a month ago, caught him off guard. One of the women interviewed by the Post alleged that Moore touched her sexually when she was 14. Another alleged that he sexually assaulted her when she was 16 and he was an assistant district attorney.
Democrat Jones is also a former US attorney, who has the distinction of having prosecuted the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan members for a church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama.