Alabama’s Democratic senator, Doug Jones, just lost to Republican Tommy Tuberville, meaning that the Democrats will need to flip four Republican Senate seats in order to control the upper chamber of Congress.
Jones was always an oddity in the U.S. Senate, as a Democrat from the deepest part of the Deep South. He was elected in 2017 to replace Jeff Sessions, and only won because the Republicans idiotically nominated Roy Moore, a freakishly far-right judge with outstanding accusations of pedophilia against him. The voters of Alabama may be as conservative as it gets, but even they can be pushed too far!
Jones’ opponent this time round doesn’t have a past nearly as disturbing as Moore’s; Tuberville is a football coach at Auburn University. However, Tuberville has signalled his far-right credentials by hanging on Trump’s xenophobic coattails, and will be a disaster in the U.S. Senate.