The Republican’s candidacy was backed by Donald Trump. It mobilised Democrats and embarrassed many in his own party. But it does not follow that Trump is finishedDoug Jones’s victory over Roy Moore in Alabamas special Senate election is a victory for decency over indecency. Mr Jones deserved to win for reasons of morality alone. The contest should maintain been an open-and-shut decision. Alabamians had to choose between a Democrat who convicted two Ku Klux Klansmen for their roles in the notorious 1963 black Baptist church bombing in Birmingham,and a Republican who romanticises Alabama’s slavery era, calls Native Americans “reds” and Asians “yellows”, or who was accused by multiple women of inappropriate behaviour up to sexual harassment and assault,in several cases when they were underage. (He has denied their allegations.)Mr Moore was an outrageous candidate from a defiant and angry political tradition that has been energised by Donald Trump. His defeat feels like an act of sweet justice – because it is. It is in fragment a win for #MeToo and will maintain consequences for that movement. He lost largely because Alabama’s African Americans rallied in heroic numbers to support Mr Jones and because a slice of the Republican electorate balked at him (including many white women – though 63% of those who voted still backed him, while 98% of black women supported Mr Jones).
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Source: guardian.co.uk