A special election for the United States Senate in Alabama has been won by Democrat Doug Jones, to fill a vacancy in the Senate arising from the resignation on February 8, 2017, of Jeff Sessions, to serve as Attorney General.
Doug Jones, a former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, won the Democratic primary, while Roy Moore, a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama won the Republican primary, defeating incumbent Luther Strange in the primary runoff. In late November, Retired Marine Col. Lee Busby launched a write-in campaign.
In mid-November, multiple women alleged that Moore had made unwanted advances or sexual assaults on them when he was in his early thirties and they were in their teens (the youngest was 14 at the time). As a result of these allegations, many national Republican leaders and office holders called for Moore to withdraw from the special election or withdrew their endorsements of him—-President Trump later endorsed Moore.
However, many Alabama Republicans reaffirmed their support of him. At the time of the revelations, it was too late to remove his name from the ballot. Many Republican leaders proposed shifting their support to a write-in candidate such as Strange. Moore has stated that he never engaged in sexual misconduct.
The winner of the election will fill the seat for the remainder of Sessions‘ term, due to end on January 3, 2021.
