>> take a look. and the lead that roy moore the republican has over the democratic doug jones it's shrunk a bit. 72% of the vote is in. 50.5% for roy moore. 48.1% for doug jones. it was a bigger lead just a while ago. so it's come down 72%. once again 72% of the vote is in. let's go over to john king. this is going to be exciting. it's by no means over. >> by no means over because of what we're missing. jefferson county, birmingham and the suburbs, we're told a lot of votes so far are from the city. look at the big margin here. if this margin holds, more than 230,000 votes right there just in jefferson county alone -- >> it's up by 56,000 votes alone and that margin is still standing. >> it stays anywhere close to

that, there are more than 23,000 votes just right here in jefferson county alone. we've been talking about mobile county slowly all night, finally up to 28% right now. it stays like this, doug jones can make up in this. so there are votes to be had. bakari was talking about earlier what's called the black belt. it's called the topsoil. you do have a great african-american belt here, you can assume that's going to fill in blue. in a lot of these other areas bakari was saying are there more votes, 100% bulk county, 100% makin' county. montgomery county up to 73%. but again 73%, quarter% of the votes now out. if doug jones keeps hitting that margin -- >> let's go back to selma for a

moment. 0% of the votes so far -- five years ago how many votes were there in selma? >> if you go to back, we don't have a count. democrats got 72% of the vote. this is presidential year. you have a higher turn out in a presidential year. but it is a safe assumption when this comes in -- >> what about the 2016 presidential eleck? >> economic back right here hillary clinton carried home selma with 68%. >> she had almost 13,000 to donald trump's votes. >> then you're looking -- if you're doug jones you think i got more to get here, more to get here, more importantly we're up to 66% now, and this margin is holding here. but it's still 21,000 votes. so as this goes up, you need to see the overall state margin come down.

you keep an eye on that. the other question is where are there more votes for roy moore. this is the christian conservative dna of alabama. but 100% in, 100% in, 100% in. down to the southeast corner, let's go up here. 100% in, 68% in. so it's a smaller county. 98%, there's some decent votes there for judge moore. added some votes there. 100% here, 100% here. just skipping through those to make the point what we're waiting on, tuscaloosa, 180%, this is the biggest pool. we're up to 66%. 66% of the vote is in. but this is the biggest pool of votes. just look at that. this is the absolute key to doug jones. keeping close to that margin as

the rest comes in. i'm just going to check this to see if it changed. got up to 32%. 10,000 votes. the question is as you go from 32 to 64 to 90-something, not only does the margin stay like this, and the math comes in like this, if you're looking at the places on this map particularly right here where there are still a lot of votes out, you've got a chance here. one other question is roy moore is now coming back down. this is the democratic dream scenario is get doug jones up to 98%, and hope that number climbs to around 2. still got some votes to count. >> but a lot of those conservative counties 100% of the vote is already in. and some of the other bigger counties, there's still plenty of votes outstanding. >> here's one.

up in franklin county, it's not a ton of votes. but to be fair to judge moore, there are places where it could pick up here. we're at 100% there, 91% here in these smaller counties. so i must say there are still some votes for judge moore to come in here. if you're thinking about a couple 100 here, couple 100 here perhaps -- the shift comes in again. >>. >> take a look right now. he's just got under 50. doug jones 48.6%. it's only a 12,000 vote difference right now. 78% of the vote is in. >> and the write ins climbing up. again that brings the line you need for victory down some, and so i just want to check to see how we're doing as we're talking these numbers are going up.

85% there. still some more votes. 12,000 vets. as you get to that point right now, look, it's -- >> what about those three counties where no votes have yet been counted? are they democratic counties traditionally or republican counties? >> very interesting. >> let's go back in time to see how it did before. >> if you go back to 2012 roy moore race for chief justice very competitive but the democrat won it in a tie. it's a traditionally republican county. >> so that's one county. >> let's go back to 2017 and come out the big one in terms of dallas county, which st. selma. if you're in jones headquarters, you're thinking this is great for us. and you look over here, again a much smaller county. but truzditionally part of that

black belt. 67%. again, if you're in jones' headquarters, you've now got this thing down about 13,000 votes. >> let's look at selma back in 2012. >> 72% of the vote there as you go back to that. so there's no question what's left. here and here in particular. this is going to come in blue. this is more of a swing county but went blue in a chief justice race. even if doug jones wins it, blue, blue and you're looking at what's left, 66%, this is going to tell us a lot. if we get up to 66% to 75%, if this margin holds it's going to inch it in closer for doug jones. and we're still waiting. mobile now up to 32%. again if you're doug jones you're holding that healthy margin.

the question is there's no guarantee the other precincts are going to keep it. >> this is very dramatic. let's reassess right now. a 13,000 vote difference. it's narrowed dramatically. roy moore now with 515,244 votes. doug jones, 501,518 votes. there's still 21% of the vote outstanding. and it looks like a lot of those out standing votes are in counties that seem to have an advantage. >> democrats have an advantage. when uwent from the early jones lead to then the significant roy moore lead was because of this. the votes came in. these two parts of alabama absolutely critical it roy moore's sticking with roy moore's dna. this is his conservative republican base. those numbers have come in very

good for roy moore. >> jefferson county. standing by for a moment -- john, i want you to watch what's happening in jefferson county right now because -- let's go to jefferson county. 66% of the vote is in. doug jones has a significant lead. >> the question is are there more votes available to us. >> let me me ask mr. king, are there more votes -- are are you getting more quickly, some of the votes in your county, jefferson county? >> yeah, i'm here realtime in our alection room in jefferson county and we're now showing 122 out of 172 precincts were reported. and doug jones has 104,697 votes. and roy moore has 30,158 votes. so that's basically --

>> what percentage of the vote is still outstanding in your county, jefferson county? >> you know probably, gosh, i'd have to do the math. i don't have a calculator with me. it's probably about 34% or so still outstanding. >> that's pretty good news for the democrat doug jones. >> if this keeps up. if you can do the math at home, 25 up to 94, as it stretches out a lilt bit doug jones is picking up some votes to narrow that margin. obviously mr. king may know. we don't know where those precincts are. >> the answer to that, mr. king? >> yeah, i've got a list here on the screen showing which precincts have been reported and which are still out. and it's across-section at this point, yes, roy moore will pick up some votes. there's still some precincts here that will likely go for

doug jones. gosh, it's hard to tell. i would say that, you know, right now the 74,000 vote margin based on the 49 precincts that are out, it's hard to tell. but i would say, i mean doug jones will stay carry jefferson county by a wide margin. >> you think he'll carry it by 70,000 votes, which he's leading right now by that number? >> no, it will shrink. he won't carry it by 74,000. gosh, it's hard to tell. i don't have a crystal ball here, but i will say that he will carry jefferson county by a wide margin. >> do you have any idea, mr. king, what the raw number of outstanding votes in jefferson county is? >> no, sir, i really have no way of knowing that at this point in

time. >> but it's at least 13% of the vote is still outstanding right? potentially, once again i suggested that's pretty good news for doug jones looking in the big picture. >> as mr. king just suggested he thinks roy moore will get some votes, the gap will close a little bit as some of the more suburban precincts come in. what is your final cushion out of jefferson county. when you come out is what do you get there and does it help you, i've got to turn this up to do this. and what are your votes there -- >> let's stay live for a moment. mr. king, please stay with us. if you take a look at statewide, you see there's about a 13,000 vote difference by our count, but by the count mr. king gave us in jefferson county that goes down to maybe 7,000 lead for roy

moore the republican. >> let me just ask the question that way. do you believe at the end can doug jones pick up a net margin of 7,000 more votes, or is that going to actually shrink when you get your final numbers? >> well, right now it's up to 75,000 votes. now, if you're asking me whether that will stay 75,000 or even go up to 82,000, if i'm understanding you right, no, i don't think it's going to increase that much. it will decrease some, but how much it'll decrease, gosh, i don't know at this point in time. it's still pretty early in the evening comparably speaking. doug jones is still going to have a lead in jefferson county. y'all are looking at figures throughout the state of alabama. i don't have those figures. so i don't really what's out and what's not out in the state of alabama.

but in jefferson county it's a comfortable lead for doug jones. and it will stay comfortable probably throughout the evening. >> as the numbers change and you're getting them more quickly than we are. >> well, you know, it's up to 123 out of 173 precincts, one of those is provisional. so really we're going to count here tonight 172 precincts. the vote total here is -- the difference is still hanging at 75,000 votes. >> 75,000 vote advantage for doug jones over roy moore. that's in jefferson county. >> yes, sir, it is. >> so you still about have 30% of the vote outstanding as we speak right now. we're going to stay in touch with you. we'll get more information. but clearly this is by no means a done deal. it could go either way. >> you just heard the judge say you've got to watch that and see

if the ultimate split between them grows or not. we'll wait on that. again, we're still waiting up here. and if you look at the margin for doug jones the challenge is the final 16% comes in, crow keep that split which will get you again if you're looking at a 12,000 vote difference, you can hold your margin in jefferson, get your votes up there and i think we're under 33% of the vote in a place where doug jones is running well ahead. can you get 8 or 10 vets here, and we're still waiting -- i keep waiting for these to fill in. this one did fill in over in chambers county. in a swing county in a last chief justice race, that's good for doug jones. that's where he picked up a little bit of his votes there. we'll just to wait. it'll be interesting to find out why they're still at zero in dallas county. and we've got a big dump when they come in. and the question will be when

these two counties come in, how much does doug jones narrow the gap, and we're going to be waiting for the final results here, here, and here. and montgomery, don't underestimate the impact this could have for jones. >> an impressive margin. less than half of the vote is in montgomery county. so the hope for the democrats still is very much out there. >> there are more than enough votes in these democratic areas. and the question is a, do those margins hold up? just because 60% of the votes in that split, it doesn't guarantee, you get more suburban counties, roy moore can narrow the numerical gap a little bit. we'll keep an eye as it plays out. >> look at this now, john, all of a sudden 86% of the vote is in. there's maybe 3,000 vote difference all of a sudden. look how it's narrowed. >> because selma came in. look at the margin.

there's 7,000 votes right there. as dallas county came in. again, we're going to wait. we're almost at a place where we're getting the votes from every county. when you're 2,600 votes, that's when tiny matters. roy moore took the big lead, running up big numbers in relatively small counties as you go to the top of the state. and dallas county, selma in the suburbs there, that's a big pool of votes that just put doug jones right back into the this race. >> 49.3%, 49.1%. a difference of 3,000 votes right now. and it was 25,000 votes, 30,000 votes, 40,000 votes, 3,000 vote difference right now. and you have mobile, mobile county, still plenty of votes out there. that looks like it's going overwhelmingly for doug jones

right now, and you've still got jefferson county. >> as the rest of it comes in, if it tracks anywhere where it is right now, that's good for judge moore. it's not a guarantee. we're still waiting for a lot of votes here. this is democratic strong hold as you can tell by the 71-28 margin there. if you were nat jones campaign a little while ago you were biting your nails, and now you're saying okay this math could work for us. 72% jefferson county, we'll keep an eye on the margin there. they're getting excited across the room there. it's mainly those big counties. we're going to watch the birmingham area, the montgomery area. we're going to watch mobile. again, 14% of the votes still out. a place where jones is running ahead. >> it looks like the red counties are pretty much almost 100% of the vote in, but there's still votes in those blue

counties. >> right. the big question right now is can judge moore in the blue counties we're waiting for votes narrow the gap somewhat, number one. and number two -- >> take a look at this. let's go back state wide-beause the gap has narrowed to 1,300 votes. look at how close it is. it is roy moore only very, very slightly ahead of the democratic doug jones. all of a sudden, staid wide 87% of the vote is in. for theic doug jones, 533,935. but doug jones the democratic after a few hours has once again taken the lead. >> and if you're at jones headquarters, number one, bakari talked about this earlier, the so-called black belt named for the topsoil is looking at the democratic.

now the question is can he hold it and get to finish line? this is stunning where we are right now if you look at this in the sense where we still have big baskets still out. jefferson county, this is a democratic strong hold. 27% of the votes still down. come down here to mobile, not even half of the vote county. >> with almost 9% of the population, i think that's the biggest gap right there. the biggest vote is in jefferson and maybe even more so mobile county. >> democratic area. if you're the roy moore campaign, you're going to start thinking are we going to somehow start performing better in those democratic areas -- >> jones is ahead now state wide-. he's ahead by 490 votes or so. so it's very, very close.

>> it's getting extremely exciting. we've still got a ways to go. but this write in number has dropped roy moore under 50%. democrats thought they got to get this up to 2 -- >> and explain the write ins. these are republicans that didn't want to vote for roy moore. >> the state senator richard shelby, the last democratic to win a senate seat back in 1992 switched parties along with so many to be republican. he urged people -- he urged republicans to write somebody in. he said he could not vote for roy moore. we talked a lot about the trump effect tonight. that's not a giant number, but was the effort by senior republicans in the state, senator shelby, we'll see. it'll be a key question as we get later through the night here. we talk about steve bannon,

donald trump, did the message from the senior republican senator help roy moore write in another republican? could make a difference in this close of a race. >> it's only about 500 votes right now. let's talk about the outstanding vote because that's going to make all the difference right now. let's take a closer look. >> let's go north to south, if you will. anybody looking into this race knew this would be key key to the race. >> you've got to feature state wide-where we can see the outstanding vote. >> we can see the state wide-. >> what's that reporting out? >> we have to go into here. we pop over here, and we pop out. so these are precincts that are 100%. now i'm going to go back and see what's left out. so precincts, we have 75% of the vote. you can see here the places where we're waiting big chunks of vote. blue, blue, a little bit of red here in shelby county. if you're looking for what is the outstanding vote in those places so far, the vote has come

in overwhelmingly democratic. so that's one little clue as you look at a right there. you come back here, and i want to check this out. i haven't looked at this for a long time. again, shelby county, republican suburbs of birmingham, judge moore is winning there. i want to show you something from the 2016 presidential election. just look at the number. the suburban republicans, the margin the president was getting, roy moore is not getting tonight. >> take a look at the lead doug jones has. it's a 10,000 vote lead that all of a sudden the democratic doug jones has over the republican roy moore. and he's got 49.7% to 48.7%, a very significant development at this late stage. 89% of the vote in, that means 11% still outstanding. but a lot of those counties still outstanding are blue

counties. >> we just looked up here earlier at madison county now up to 90% reporting, and doug jones keeping that healthy lead. up to 73%. we were at 66% just a few minutes ago here in jefferson county. and again keeping a healthy margin there more than 74,000 votes, keeping that. as more votes are coming in these key blue counties, he's maintained or not shrinking his lead. finally up to 57% here. a healthy lead for doug jones where you can do the math. almost 10,000 votes right there. you start to pull this out and start thinking if you're roy moore right now, where can i find these votes and again if you start looking around these ruby red areas, he's got a problem. 100%, 63% right now in shelby county. it's a more populated percent of

the population, so let's keep an eye on shelby county. and close elections, urban vote has to turn out. >> 11,000 vote lead right now for doug jones, the democrat which is dramatic shift only in the last 10, 15 minutes. >> so now your just waiting on the final votes. we have our people going on in these final places. 100% in tuscaloosa county but only 73% in jefferson county. you want to find out what's out. is it more in the city area or in the suburbs where doug jones if he doesn't win moore gets a smaller margin? are they close in suburban votes where doug jones might be doing better than normal because of the past controversies or out here because they're more reliable republicans.

thigh try to figure out what is left in the campaign headquarters. and again this is big basket of votes in a place where doug jones is winning huge. this is the largest chunk i can still see out. montgomery here, half of the votes still out and jefferson county. >> let's go back to jake. you've got some information as well. >> reporter: well, this is stunning turn of events. doug jones up by 11,000 votes. the democrat leading in deep red alabama. and alex is in birmingham, alabama at doug jones campaign headquarters. it sounds like people there are getting excited, alex. >> reporter: well, jake, this room has been erupting in cheers over the past few moments. they were watching you guys break down these numbers, watching cnn. you can hear those screams going up. the music just stopped. everyone very excited as these numbers come in.

i was just speaking to the senior strategist for the jones campaign, joe trippy. he was saying that they are ecstatic as they see these votes come in. they feel very good about their chances. they have previously said this was going to be very close. it was going to be a coin toss. now with all these new numbers coming in, they're feeling extremely confident. they know they have this lead. they think they will keep it. here in this room as well. you can hear it, jake. >> alex in birmingham, alabama, at the doug jones democratic campaign headquarters. let's go to katelyn collins where judge moore's campaign headquarters is located. obviously a lot more quiet where you are and an mc just a minute ago said they're doing a lot of

praying there in montgomery. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, jake. it might be the opposite of what we just heard from alex marquar. it's actually grown quite quiet from the last time i spoke with you. and roy moore had come through the room, shaking hands, taking pictures. and now we're seeing those numbers grow closer and closer and see jones take a lead while these precincts are still reporting, it has gotten very quiet and gloom ea in this room. campaign officials for disappeared and texts have slowly grown. but it is quiet here, jake. >> with 90% of the vote in, democrat doug jones is up by 11,000 votes. a stunning turn of events. i think there are a lot of people that were very skept skl this race was actually going to be as close as it is, much less that doug jones might

potentially win this race in deep red alabama. let's go to wolf blitzer for a second, i'm sorry. >> we have a major projection right now. and cnn projects doug jones, the democratic, he will be the next united states senator from alabama. he beats roy moore in this really, really exciting contest. doug jones comes from behind, takes the lead and now cnn projects he will be the next senator. first time in 25 years that a democrat will be elected senator from the state of alabama. a ruby red state, a very republican state. but doug jones, doug jones is the winner. cnn projects he is the winner in this race. this is huge moment, a huge win for the democrats, a huge setback for the president of the united states. they're getting excited over there at doug jones headquarters. let's go over to doug jones headquarters. alex, you're there. they just got the news.

we made the projection. doug jones has been elected. the united states senator from alabama. >> reporter: wolf, it is absolutely deafening in here. this news just coming across the screen there from the horse's mouth. can barely hear myself. absolute jubilation. this is coming in a lot sooner than people thought. i've been told by senior campaign sources that they're expecting this to go on all night. they thought it was going to be extremely close and that it would come down to a coin flip. and now here at in this ballroom, you've got people pouring in to see the fact that for the first time in 25 years a democrat will be representing alabama in the senate. this was always going to be a competitive race. but it was roy moore's race to lose, those allegations against him made this a very competitive race. the last few days doug jones has

been -- has mounted a massive get out to vote campaign to peel off republicans and african-american voters. clearly that paying off. just listen to this crowd as they erupt in celebration. [ cheers and applause ] >> alex, standby, we're going to get back to you. lost of excitement over there at doug jones campaign headquarters in alabama. cnn projects he is the winner. jake, this is huge win for the democrats. a come from behind win for the democrats. a huge setback for roy moore but also a huge setback for president trump. >> first of all in terms of big picture, i mean this definitely does show that there are standards and there are limits to what voters will accept even in this era of tribes. even in this era where democrats and republicans stick to their teams, root for their teams where there is still a point

past which some people will not go. and that point in this race obviously has to do with the ugly allegations against judge doug jones -- i'm sorry, roy moore, the judge. that makes it even tougher for legislation, as we've seen a lot of these big major pieces of legislation have been defeated or won only by one or two votes. and third of all i have to say this is huge defeat for president trump. this is deep red alabama. president trump made the calculation he was going to double down, he was going to stick with this candidate, the candidate who followed the trump play book for when they are allegations against you. just deny them all and attack the people accusing you. and it failed. and it failed not only in an embarrassing way. it failed in one of the most republican states that there is.

a state so republican the last time they elected to a democratic to the senate, two years later he changed parties and became republican. this is deep, deep red. trump trounced hillary clinton in this state. but tonight a democrat won. it's a resounding rejection of everything president trump was standing for. >> when the president chose jeff sessions the then senator from alabama to be the attorney general, no one even considered the notion of what we're seeing right now, that a democrat could be the one to win his seat. but it is this stunning turn of events particularly within this republican party and the fact they had such a flawed candidate. republican after republican told me and i'm sure you too, jake, that this is probably the worst republican candidate they have fielded in forever. and so that really has come back to haunt republicans.

the irony of this -- the irony is that you're seeing and hearing the cheering at the democrat's headquarters because they won. i guarantee you there is is cheering or if not cheering a very loud sigh of relief among republicans in the senate. they don't have to deal with expulsion. they don't have to deal with roy moore around their neck having the idea that there is a republican senator who did the things that he did allegedly in terms of abuse and everything else that he stood for. >> reporter: the thing is also in terms of the big fight we've been seeing every day since president trump, since donald trump entered the race, establishment republicans versus the insurgent republicans or the disrupting republicans, bannon and trump, the establishment republicans were so against roy moore as john noted, the senior

republican senator richard shelby actually came on my show sunday and basically told republicans write-in a candidate. the speaker of the house, ivanka trump, all of them against roy moore. the head of the national senatorial campaign committee, republican of colorado, very conservative senator. he would not endorse or support roy moore in anyway. jeff flake, the conservative republican senator from arizona, sent a check to doug jones the democrat. they were completely against it. but the trump-bannon wing, they were all in. >> we can see charles barkley, by the way, at doug jones' headquarters there. of course an alabama native and went down and did a lot of heavy campaigning for doug jones. you mentioned donald trump. i cannot tell you how hard the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell begged and pleaded with the president of the united states according to people i talked to not to go all in on

roy moore, not to endorse him, not to put his own reputation on the line, but more importantly try to help roy moore. and now obviously with the benefit of hindsight mitch mcconnell was right. he wasn't trying to save donald trump from himself. he was trying to save the reputation of the republican party and the united states senate. but looking back, if the president had heeded those warnings and those calls from his republican counterpart in the united states senate, he wouldn't have this embarrassment. and it is an embarrassment. there's no questin about it. that president trump against the advice of so many people went all in for roy moore, and he lost. >> and the thing is he was advised not to by people in the white house. people in the white house tried to keep him out of this race, but he insisted he wanted to be in that race. and the thing is this is not the last time you're going to hear roy moore's name in this election -- in this election

cycle, yes. but roy moore is going to be hung around trump's neck in 2020, and perhaps beyond that. donald trump supported this alleged child sexual abuser. that charge doesn't go away anytime soon. anderson. >> bakari, you obviously campaigned for doug jones. >> for me there's two things. it raw emotion for something on election night is something democrats haven't felt for a long time. and so you just exude this joy. i mean you're just so ecstatic right now. but i think there's two thing that are apropos for tonight. the fist thing i went down to t tusk key go. and we went on seafood friday. and doug jones, he spent time talking to every single person,

every single voter. and he talked to it cafeteria people, shaking hands. for him to get to this victory means so much. but we read all the articles from "the washington post," the huffington post, everybody going and talking about black voters and not winning this race, and selma, alabama, tonight turned alabama into a blue state even if it is for a moment. we will worry about how he's going to legislate in a red state tomorrow, but tonight there are a lot of people who are drinking hennessy in alabama. and we are excited about the victory, and y'all got to let us have it. >> roy moore turned alabama into a blue state, not donald trump. i love you jake, but to say this is on donald trump, donald trump tried to rescue a campaign that was doomed. and he put everything in to try

to risk it. it wasn't his candidate. he didn't endorse him in the primary -- >> he went -- >> i want jake to be able to respond. >> i just want to clarify. obviously this is roy moore's loss, no question. my point is it's a loss also for president trump because he attached himself to roy moore. >> well, he attached himself to roy moore only to try and save a campaign that was doomed. and i don't think anyone would suggest that roy moore would have won the race had donald trump would have not been -- >> i'm sure donald trump made it much more competitive. the point is the calculation that some of his advisers and republicans on the hill were making was this guy is going to lose, and he has this taint of these horrific allegations, president trump don't get involved in this. but president trump thinking he is his own best political strategist opted not to do it. but i completely agree with you, this loss is roy moore. 's and any other normal

republican would be winning tonight. but i think it was a questionable decision by the president to choose to -- >> that's not what you said, but i do accept the fact that he did not make -- well, in the end he didn't make a wise decision to endorse him because we lost. but you can say you can say he fought for what he fought for, you yourself said it's going to be very difficult for republicans to pass any legislation -- >> with all due respect to anyone around the table, tonight is not about donald trump. tonight is not about roy moore. we hashed all of that out. the reason the democratic party won is we had a legitimate candidate to run up against a flawed candidate. and we have to embrace doug jones. he ran the perfect race for this moment. >> can i just say, we should say a big thank you to alabamians.

it was democrats, nmtindependen moderate republicans. i'm just saying this was such a great night. and for alabama and democrats, bakari -- >> i don't think you can dismiss the trump factor in this race. i look at this race and i think the reckoning has continued. it has gone down to alabama. because donald trump across the country, look at what happened in virginia, the governor's race. this is the second time in donald trump's mistreatment of women, the hostility towards minorities has activated something within the country where republicans -- jeff sessions won that seat by more than 90porous in 2014. any republican should have won that seat by double digits in their sleep. and republicans lost it tonight. >> let me just say -- and this is something the governor has said before, which is that

candidate recruitment now fordomes is going to go crazy because they believe they can win. and the civil war in the republican party, not to say there are many differences among democrat, but in the republican party is going to get even worse. just tonight the senate leadership fund issued a statement, ceo steve law there said this is brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running. not only did steve bannon cost us a critical senate seat in one of the most republican states in the country, but he also dragged the president of the united states into his fiasco. okay, that is republican pact. and the nrsc was a little more politic, but basically said the best candidate won in different words. >> can ai just say a few things?

i want to oako one thing bakari said. just as someone who practiced this campaign politics for a long time, doug jones ran an extraordinary campaign. he had a very narrow needle to thread, and he threaded it very well. and, you know, including not bringing national politicians into the state until the end, working the african-american communities very, very hard and that turn out made the difference. the turn out in the african-american communities relative to these white rural counties was much, much higher. and that was the difference in this race. but it is a -- it also is true that it was a very, very cynical play to try and drag roy moore who was so deeply flawed across the line. whenever you have to hide your candidate for the last week and put him in a witness protection program of some sort, that is

bad sign. and everyone who supported him or tacitly supported him were complicit in that strategy. and it was what rick said, they wanted that 52nd vote. part of is fundamental decency. and that is what you heard a lot of tonight in alabama. >> and charles barkley sent a m message, is this the message we want to send in alabama? so he said send a message, essentially don't make us look stupid on the national stage. that was his message to a lot of vote, and i think a lot of them took his advice. >> the other thing i think is important to note here, the united states senate is in play

until 2019. i'm not saying it's going to be easy for them at all, but for the entire year this year looking at the landscape it all about the house of representatives being the thing that's in play next year. you're not at instead of 52-48, split, looking at these elections to not say that the control of the united states senate in next year's mid-terms is now in play. >> i would also add, and dana would know a lot more about this than me, but i think the other sort of happenstance winners here were people like susan collins, bob corker, flake who now are more powerful in a senate that is 51-49 rather than 52-48 and have more leverage. >> let's actually bring in dana. dana, do you want to weigh in on this? >> no, absolutely. it's the people who are on the

fence, on many of these legislative fights -- they already have leverage, and now they're going to have even more leverage come early next year. because we should also make the point that doug jones is not likely to be actually seated until the ebeginning of january. so in the most immediate fight which is over tax reform, this is something that republicans were already trying to do by the end of the year, and you can bet they're going to try even harder to get a house compromise and get something to the president's desk before the already thin margin in the senate get even thinner. and i can tell you even before we got these results, i was e-mailing with a republican senator who said they were watching with one eye but also working on this compromise on tax reform with the other, in anticipation of the end of the year but also what was happening in alabama. >> senator santorum, do you

agree that the senate could be in play? >> given the make up of who's up, i think it's still going to be a stretch for the senate to be in play this election cycle. look, as bad of news this is for republican, it is a very clear warning shot -- and i'm going to agree with amanda here, the president's demeanor and the way he's been so hostile in attacking people, it's just debilitating. it just wears out people who would otherwise look at this national economy, look at some of the great things this administration is doing and just get worn-out by it, and worn-out by the daily controversy coming out of the president's twitter feed. and did have an impact? i had no doubt that had an impact in alabama. there's no doubt in my mind it softened the playing field. but to go back to my point, this is roy moore's loss.

when roy moore had these charges brought against him on jake's show, i said get out of the race. there's no way you're going to win this race. as much as they tried to drag him across the finish line, there's no way he's going to win this race -- >> it is donald trump's loss. it is steve bannon's loss. and just watch, i'm curious to know tomorrow morning what is -- let me just finish. what is donald trump going to be tweeting tomorrow morning? is he going to be trying to discredit this election, that it was a fake election -- >> what he may be tweeting about is actually usa today and their editorial. >> usa today which is not known for its hot editorials just had one this evening which said that president trump has shown he is not fit for office, a president who would all but call senator kirst kirsten gillibrand a whore is

not fit to clean the toilets or shine the shoes of president bush. he might be tweeting about that tomorrow morning. so it's kind of stunning, and it speaks to the point senator santorum is making, which is why does he do this? why does he do this to himself, and it is self-destructive. >> let me ask a question -- have you seen anybody who's gotten this far in life, never working for anybody else change? i mean are we expecting this defeat tonight or anything he said or usa today op-ed? >> this has always been the question, bakari, being much closer in age than you, it is hard to change someone. he is clearly someone that hasn't showed the capacity to change or grow.

he responds in kind. and we saw that that with senator gillibrand. >> i also want to show a tweet that jeff flake has just sent out. i want to put up on the screen. decency wins. >> donald trump is going to be the same what that means, yes, the democratic party has a huge foil. even more importantly that than, donald trump still controls the republican base. so, if donald trump goes in or steve bannon goes in and throws their weight around there's still going to be a hard time for moderate -- there's two states to watch out for. one is nevada, the other is arizona. those are the two states -- >> the -- >> i don't know about -- >> listen -- >> i'm going to let you -- >> make the point that what happened tonight makes it so that donald trump will be less willing to listen to anyone else in a republican party. he took mitch mcconnell's advice at first, got behind the wrong candidate, luther strange, then followed steve bannon's lead and

got behind roy moore. donald trump lost twice listening to republicans so now he's going -- >> the state he says he understands the voters -- >> i believe he will turn further infard award and be eve unpredictable. >> rick and ammanda made your point -- i don't want to put words in your mouths, but what i'm hearing from you guys tonight was that donald trump's behavior in office is a problem for the republican party. >> yes. >> right? i mean, i don't want to be -- like you just -- >> i have to say -- >> two republicans say that. >> i'm not sure this is breaking news. >> right. >> the thing is, he will not blame himself. >> of course not. >> tomorrow will be of coursing. i'd like to be in a meeting with mitch mcconnell who won't say, i told you so, mr. president, i'd love to be in meeting with them as they try to hash out the tax reform bill. the president is supposed to speak. what does he do, who does he blame now, ivanka? . >> this is the thing -- >> ivanka would have made the right call here. >> the amazing thing about this discussion is what we've been

able to hide as democrats is we have a problem as well. what we're trying to do is sort out what kind of party we want to be. what doug jones showed is there's a wing in the party that wants a litmus test. doug jones and virginia shows the best candidates are those who reflective of the values of their state. y you can't have a national -- >> there's doug jones. let's listen in. his family's joined him on stage. he's obviously going be speaking momentarily. let's just listen in for a moment. ♪ [ cheers and applause ]

♪ [ cheers and applause ] >> david, you talked about the kind of race that doug jones ran, what did he do right? >> well, he stayed out of -- he stayed out of the sort of updraft of national politics. focused very much on alabama and alabama issues. he didn't let himself -- he was -- they tried to portray him as a sort of quintessential washington liberal. h stayed out of that.

he was very low key. he didn't jump on the roy moore thing in a craven way from the beginning. and he handled himself with dignity, but his organization built on the ground. there wasn't a democratic organization to speak of in the state of alabama, statewide, and he had to build and they had to build an organization to bring out the kind of vote that they brought today, and then the use of the obama robo call, governor patrick, cory booker, and others who came in late, of course, bakari sellers needs to be mentioned in this pantheon of political leaders. it was done at just the right time and just the right way. i mean, you always look great when you win. okay, you're never as smart as you look when you win and never as dumb as you look when you lose. this was truly a well-conceived campaign and had to be to produce a result in a state like this. >> yeah, then you add the write-ins, 18,000 or so went to the write-in, just wrote somebody in to sort of shelby effect there. >> yeah. >> then he just didn't do as

well. roy moore didn't do as well with white women voters, even though he won them, but he just didn't perform as well as an average republican. so all of those things that needed to happen, it was a perfect storm. >> he also used his republican validaters in his advertising very effectively. sessions and shelby and ivanka trump and that i think had some impact in dampening turnout. >> let's listen in to doug jones. [ cheers and applause ] >> thank you. thank you. everyone, thank you. thank you. thank you.

oh, my. folks, i got to tell you, i think that i have been waiting all my life and now i just don't know what the hell to say. let me -- if you will indulge me just a moment -- [ chanting ] no, let's just get sworn in first before we -- folks, i'm overwhelmed but i want to alrea -- let me first make a couple of kind of brief comments. you know, i have said throughout this campaign that i thought that december 12th was going to be a historic day. but -- but i got to tell you, and you know where i'm headed,

these 12th has always been a historic day for the jones family. this is, as you know, mine and louise's 25th wedding anniversary. my running mate, my partner. i could not -- i could not have done this without her. the love, support, and the encouragement. earlier in the evening when she just kind of kicked me in the rear end when i was down. so this has been a wonderful night. i got to thank my family. i've got my wonderful sons, carson, christopher. my daughter, courtney. my beautiful granddaughter. her son-in-law. all these friends back here. u.s. attorney buddies. my mom who can't make it here.

my dad who's here with us in spirit who's too ill, and unfortunately my sister, terry, and her husband, scott, terri savage and scott savage, hey, she couldn't make it, either. i am truly overwhelmed. . i am truly, truly overwhelmed. but, you know, folks, and you have all heard me say this at one point or another in this campaign, i have always believed that the people of alabama have more in common than to divide us. we have shown not just around the state of alabama but we have shown the country the way that we can be unified.

we have spent so many hours, i have got so many people that i can thank, but i will tell you just very quickly, there are three people that i want to acknowledge tonight because if it wasn't for them, we would not be here. they're the folks that sat me down in early may and said, doug, you can do this, and they showed me the way. and i want to make sure that everyone in this room -- we had an incredible staff. it started with a small group of folks, jess and wade and trey and garrett. but the three people i need to acknowledge before i go any further, i have the greatest political consultant in the world in joe trippi. i know you're tired of seeing my ads, but they were all joe's work and he showed me the way. doug turner, we've been friends for so long, showed me the

numbers. and then the one that i called the yoda of the campaign, giles perkins. giles has had his own issues to deal with over the summer, but this campaign and what he has done is whenever the history is written about alabama politics, remember those names, giles perkins, doug turner and joe trippi. there are so many -- there are too many people here. i want to just say this, folks, we have come so far. we have come so far and the people of alabama have spoken. they have said we -- [ cheers and applause ] they have said to each other that this, i have said fro