This OTYCD entry originally posted in August 2017.
Update: Doug Jones is giving his victory speech as I type this. His. Victory. Speech.
His. Victory. Speech.
He beat Republican Roy Moore to win the open Alabama senate seat, 50 percent to 49 percent.
Whoa.
Whoa.
WHOA.
Remember the joy of this win. Hold it close. You matter. Your voice matters. Your vote matters. It has always mattered. It will always matter. Never doubt it.
Original text of the post follows.
Support Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama. The special election is in December.
When Jeff Sessions was confirmed as the United States attorney general, his senate seat in Alabama opened. The governor appointed Luther Strange to fill it until the state could hold a special election on December 12, 2017.
Most of the news coverage has focused on the Republican side of things. Alabama is flagrantly Republican and strongly Trump-supporting. But there has been chaos on the Republican side. Though Strange is the incumbent, he’s still vulnerable because he has yet to stand for election. The Alabama Republican primary, held in August, was inconclusive and forced to a runoff. Strange is facing Roy Moore, a former judge who is best known for shenanigans such as installing a Ten Commandments monument at the state courthouse and trying to fight the Supreme Court’s ruling that allowed same-sex marriage.
Trump has endorsed Strange in a tweet, but we know how mercurial he is. There’s also the question of who supporters of Republican Mo Brooks will get behind. He was knocked out after the August primary was held. The runoff between Strange and Moore will take place on September 26.
Democrats could use the chaos to their advantage, if they play things precisely right. The Democrats held their primary in August as well and emerged with a clear winner: Doug Jones. He’s a former U.S. attorney who prosecuted two KKK members who were involved in the 1963 church bombing in Birmingham that killed four girls. Jones’s team succeeded in convicting the men of murder.
Let’s be dead clear. As with Foster Campbell’s run for the U.S. Senate seat in Louisiana in December 2016, the odds are long. Cook and the major political tracking agencies call this a solid or safe Republican senate seat.
That doesn’t mean it isn’t worth a try. If the Republican primary stays messy, that could play to the Democrats’ advantage. Even if Jones does not win, we can make the race competitive, help Alabama democrats build their political infrastructure, and force the republicans to spend time and money on a seat that shouldn’t need so many resources. Even if Jones doesn’t win, we can win by draining their coffers and their energy.
So! Here is Jones’s campaign site:
Here’s where he stands on the issues:
http://dougjonesforsenate.com/priorities/
Volunteer for Jones:
https://dougjones.bsd.net/page/s/volunteer?source=MS_HP_FIELD_2017.06.05_X_volunteer_X__X__web
Donate to Jones’s campaign:
Subscribe to One Thing You Can Do by clicking the blue button on the upper right or checking the About & Subscribe page. And tell your friends about the blog!
Like his Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/dougjonessenate
Follow him on Twitter:
@GDouglasJones
Read a Slate piece, written before Jones won the primary, on how the Democrats might have a shot at the Alabama senate seat if he becomes the party’s candidate:
Read about Jones’s solid win in the Democratic primary:
http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/08/alabamas_senate_primary_democr.html
Read the Ballotpedia entry on Jones:
https://ballotpedia.org/Doug_Jones_(Alabama)
Read the Ballotpedia entry on the 2017 Alabama Senate special election:
https://ballotpedia.org/United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Alabama,_2017
One Thing You Can Do 
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