--- title: Doug Jones Challenges Roy Moore In Alabama Special Election description: Here's what to know about Doug Jones, Roy Moore's Democratic opponent in the special election for Jeff Sessions' vacant seat. canonical: https://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-13T18:02:30.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T00:22:33.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet the Democrat Running Against Embattled Republican Roy Moore og:description: The election is anybody's game as Moore has been accused of seeking relationships with teenage women og:url: https://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50be0ef0b4e05e3b/6988e59c22fb85e1afe23a70/roy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Jones' election sign is posted around Jefferson County prior to the upcoming special election against Republican candidate Moore in Hoover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Democrat Running Against Embattled Republican Roy Moore twitter:description: The election is anybody's game as Moore has been accused of seeking relationships with teenage women twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50be0ef0b4e05e3b/6988e59c22fb85e1afe23a70/roy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet Doug Jones, the Democrat Running Against Embattled Republican Roy Moore by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:22 AM UTCPublished: Nov 13, 2017 6:02 PM UTC  Senate Democratic candidate Doug Jones' election sign is posted around the Jefferson County, Alabama area prior to the upcoming special election against Republican candidate Judge Roy Moore in Hoover, Alabama on November 10, 2017. Senate Democratic candidate Doug Jones' election sign is posted around the Jefferson County, Alabama area prior to the upcoming special election against Republican candidate Judge Roy Moore in Hoover, Alabama on November 10, 2017.Marvin Gentry—Reuters by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:22 AM UTCPublished: Nov 13, 2017 6:02 PM UTC Alabama voters will cast their ballots on Dec. 12 in a special election between Roy Moore and Doug Jones to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The Republican candidate, [Roy Moore,](http://time.com/4989044/roy-moore-how-could-disrupt-trump-gop/) a former state Supreme Court justice who was twice removed from the bench, has consistently led in the polls. His ultra-conservative views — he has suggested that [Muslims should not be able to serve in Congress](http://archive.is/Onilk) and that gays and lesbians make [“unfit” parents](http://www.slate.com/articles/news%5Fand%5Fpolitics/jurisprudence/2017/11/re%5Fexamining%5Froy%5Fmoore%5Fs%5Ffixation%5Fon%5Fprotecting%5Fchildren%5Ffrom%5Fgay%5Fpeople.html) — and his disdain for establishment Republicans seemed to have connected with voters. But earlier this month, allegations arose in a Washington _Post_ report claiming that [Moore initiated sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.9c337a5e4533) and pursued relationships with other teenage women while he was in his 30s. (Moore has since [threatened to file a lawsuit](http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2017/11/roy%5Fmoore%5Fsays%5Fhe%5Fwill%5Ffile%5Fla.html) against the _Post_.) The claims have thrown the election’s outcome into question, as Moore’s Democratic opponent, Jones, has gained in the polls in recent days. Top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, are [now calling for Moore to step aside](http://time.com/5017647/mitch-mcconnell-roy-moore-alabama-senate/). Here’s what know about Jones, Moore’s Democratic rival for Alabama’s open Senate seat. ## Who is Doug Jones? Democrat Doug Jones is a former Alabama U.S. attorney, appointed to that position in 1997 by former President Bill Clinton. He’s best known for serving as the lead prosecutor in a successful 2002 case against [two Ku Klux Klan members responsible for the 1963 Birmingham church bombing](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/11/09/an-alabama-senate-race-conjures-the-awful-1963-church-bombing-that-killed-4-black-girls/?utm%5Fterm=.64c17268da1e) that killed four young black girls. In a 2013 interview with the [Los Angeles _Times_](http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/14/nation/la-na-nn-birmingham-bombing-prosecutor-20130913), Jones said the case changed the way he felt about Birmingham for the better. “It was an emotionally draining case—it would drain you every day. But from that point on, it’s been nothing but uplifting,” he said. Jones also indicted a man who targeted an Alabama abortion clinic with a bomb in 1998, leaving one off-duty police officer dead. The bomber, Eric Robert Rudolph, [plead guilty in 2005](http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/us/eric-robert-rudolph---fast-facts/index.html), after Jones had left office and began working as a private attorney. ## What policies does Doug Jones support? As a Democrat running a statewide campaign in deep-red Alabama, Jones’ chances might seem slim. But the candidate has been running on a platform focused on what he described in a recent conversation with reporters as “kitchen-table issues.” “Jobs, the economy . . . Healthcare is such an important issue for the state,” Jones said, [according](http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-alabama-senate-race-20171112-story.html) to the Los Angeles _Times._ “We’re a poor state, we’re an unhealthy state and healthcare is probably the biggest issue that’s causing folks to take a look at this race and hit a political reset button.” Jones’ [campaign website](https://dougjonesforsenate.com/priorities/) also cites civil rights, criminal justice reform, bringing “integrity back to Washington,” and the environment among the candidate’s priorities. > [](https://twitter.com/GDouglasJones/status/929841000712953857) ## What are Jones’ chances of winning? Alabama, a Republican stronghold, has not elected a Democrat to serve in the U.S. Senate in two decades. President Donald Trump trounced Hillary Clinton there in the 2016 presidential election, winning the state by 28 points. The national Democratic Party has taken a mostly hands-off approach to the state, [_USA_ _Today_](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2017/11/09/help-doug-jones-national-democrats-lay-low-alabama-senate-race/841726001/) reports. But the allegations against Moore have thrown the usual political calculus out the window, especially as an increasing number of top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have [called for him to step aside](http://time.com/5021589/roy-moore-mitch-mcconnell/). A [_RealClearPolitics_ average](https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2017/senate/al/alabama%5Fsenate%5Fspecial%5Felection%5Fmoore%5Fvs%5Fjones-6271.html) of recent polling for the race show Moore in the lead by two points. However, a [poll conducted after](http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2017/11/doug%5Fjones%5Ftakes%5Flead%5Fon%5Froy%5Fm.html) the Washington _Post’s_ report shows Jones leading Moore with four points, with a four point**.** A separate poll released a day after the report found the race tied at 46\. But AL.com [reports](http://www.al.com/news/huntsville/index.ssf/2017/11/doug%5Fjones%5Ftakes%5Flead%5Fon%5Froy%5Fm.html) at least three other surveys conducted after the _Post_ story was published still showed Moore in the lead. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/"},"headline":"Meet Doug Jones, the Democrat Running Against Embattled Republican Roy Moore","datePublished":"2017-11-13T18:02:30.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T00:22:33.000Z","description":"His chances of winning are improving following accusations that Moore pursued relationships with several teenage women","url":"https://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/","keywords":["Congress","democrats","republicans","Election","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50be0ef0b4e05e3b/6988e59c22fb85e1afe23a70/roy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt50be0ef0b4e05e3b/6988e59c22fb85e1afe23a70/roy-jones.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Jones' election sign is posted around Jefferson County prior to the upcoming special election against Republican candidate Moore in Hoover","caption":"U.S. Senate Democratic candidate Jones' election sign is posted around Jefferson County prior to the upcoming special election against Republican candidate Moore in Hoover","creditText":"Marvin Gentry—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/congress/","name":"Congress"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/","name":"Meet Doug Jones, the Democrat Running Against Embattled Republican Roy Moore"}}]}] ```