Gordon Douglas Jones, 63, is a lawyer, father of three, and—as of last night—a United States senator-elect from Alabama.
Jones narrowly won last night against Republican nominee Roy Moore. Jones had 49.92 percent of the votes, and Moore had 48.38 percent. It was less than a two percent win. The 1.7 percent of voters that wrote-in really helped Jones.
Many are happy with this win.
“Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who’ll make them proud,” Hillary Clinton tweeted. “And if Democrats can win in Alabama we can – and we must – compete everywhere.”
His competitor, Moore, has been accused of sexual assault and child molestation by multiple women. Yet he still seemed to have support in Alabama, as it was shown by the closeness in votes.
Jones is considered a “moderate Democrat” by The Birmingham News. But he was not supported by President Donald Trump during his campaign.
Trump had supported Moore, even if he was rejected by a majority of Republicans in Congress.
But Trump took to Twitter at 6:22 a.m. on the day after the election denying it.
“The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him,” Trump tweeted. “If last night’s election proved anything, it proved that we need to put up GREAT Republican candidates to increase the razor thin margins in both the House and Senate.”
Jones is to fill the seat vacated by United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The GOP’s majority in the house is now narrowed to two.