Doug Jones just said exactly what Alabama needs to hear in historic victory statement

After a tumultuous 24 hours, in which failed Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore attempted to postpone the certification of the special election results on the basis of voter fraud, Democrat Doug Jones’ victory has finally been certified by the state of Alabama.

Jones issued a statement celebrating his victory as the first Democrat elected to statewide office in Alabama in a quarter century.

Late last night, accused child molester Roy Moore filed a complaint to delay the certification of the December 12th special election results on the basis of voter fraud, in hopes of ultimately being granted “a new election.”

This morning, however, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill announced that he, along with Governor Kay Ivey and Attorney General Steve Marshall, would proceed in certifying the election results that name Doug Jones as Alabama’s next Senator.

Alabama Circuit Judge Johnny Hardwick also denied Moore’s attempt to block the certification.

“Doug Jones will be certified today at 2PM Eastern Time,” Merrill explains. “The governor, Kay Ivey, our attorney general, Steve Marshall, and I will meet in the office of the Secretary of State, in the Executive Office, and we will certifying him as the senator for the state of Alabama. He will be sworn in by Vice President Pence on the 3rd of January when the Senate returns.”

Last night, the Moore campaign issued a press release explaining that it had filed a complaint “to preserve evidence of potential election fraud and to postpone the certification of Alabama’s Special Election.”

Moore had called for a voter fraud investigation to be conducted, claiming that “three national Election Integrity experts” concluded “with a reasonable degree of statistical and mathematical certainty” that “election fraud occurred.” He went so far as to claim that the “probability of the election results in these precincts happening naturally is ‘less than one in 15 billion.’”

Of course, Moore is grasping at straws. In actuality, the people of Alabama were so disgusted by one of the most flawed and unfit candidates in American history that he couldn’t manage to win in perhaps the most conservative state in the country as a Republican.

The odds of Roy Moore losing may very well have been one in 15 billion; that he lost, then, is a testament to just how dismal of a candidate he was.

Alabama state law requires an automatic recount if the margin is less than one-half of one percent. With 100% of precincts reporting, Jones’ margin of victory stands at 1.7% – over 20,000 votes – rendering a recount unnecessary.

Jones’ victory is especially striking given the fact that Trump won Alabama with over 62 percent of the vote in the 2016 general election. The Democrat’s win, then, is an unprecedented 29-point swing to the left.

With these results, the Republican majority in the Senate now shrinks from 52-48 to 51-49.

Doug Jones is best known for prosecuting two KKK members after a 1962 church bombing in Birmingham in which four black girls were tragically killed. He also sent Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph to jail.

Roy Moore, for his part, has been mired in scandal since The Washington Post published a bombshell report in which four women – a number that has since grown precipitously – stepped forward to accuse Roy Moore, at the time a District Attorney in his 30s, of engaging in sexual behavior while they were between the ages of 14- and 18-years-old. The story was corroborated by over 30 sources.

Doug Jones’ victory in Alabama is only the latest in a wave of stunning Democratic success stories. Aside from flipping New Jersey’s and winning Virginia’s gubernatorial races, Democrats picked up a staggering 15 seats in Virginia’s House of Delegates, giving them control of 49 seats out of 100 so far. Several races for the House of Delegates are still currently being decided.

Democrats have also picked up a slew of seats in other races around the country, including those in Georgia, Washington, and Florida.

Since the beginning of 2017, Democrats have flipped 15 seats in special elections. Republicans have flipped zero. In total, Democrats flipped 35 seats from red to blue. Even in solidly red districts, such as those in Oklahoma, South Carolina, Kansas, and Alabama, Democrats are overperforming Trump’s numbers by double digits.

With the disgusting Roy Moore saga finally at its end, the people of Alabama can take pride in the fact that a decent, hard-working, ethical man will represent them in the United States Senate.

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Brian Tyler Cohen

Managing editor

Brian Tyler Cohen is a political writer, actor, and comedy sketch director. He graduated from Lehigh University with a dual degree in English and Business. He currently lives in Los Angeles.