percentage point. doesn't look to be moving that direction. we will wait and see what the reaction is. now joe jones -- doug jones prepared to be the next senator here. this is a fox news alert. we want to take you back laughed alabama where doug jones is celebrating his victory, having been just electeded to the u.s. senate. let's listen in. all right, we are going to work on that audio. stick with us. he pulled off a race that weeks ago many would've thought impossible. that was before allegations against roy moore dating back decades in some cases surfaced and voters we saw were conflicted over whether or not they believe those allegations.

we had a big number of voters tell us in our voter analysis that they stayed home because of the allegations. they chose not to vote at all and you would think tonight that had to have helped democrat doug jones. he is going through thinking his supporters and vowing to take washington by storm. >> it is the volunteers who made 1.2 million phone calls around the state. it's those volunteers to make sure we knew it was every community. i keep hearing about the different communities in the states. the african-american community, thank youu. [cheers and applause] my friends in the latino community, thank you. [cheers and applause] to all my jewish friends, happy hanukkah.

[cheers and applause] we have built this everywhere we have gone. we have had that same energy. we've had the same excitement. at the end of the day, this r entire race has been about dignity and respect. this campaign has been about the rule of law. this campaign... this campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state, regardless of which zip code you liveh in, it's goig to get a fair shake in life. and let me say this, folks.

to all of my future colleagues in washington. i've had such wonderful help, but i want to make sure in all seriousness there are important issues facing thisis country. there are important issues of health care and jobs and the economy. i would like, as everyone in the entire probably free world knows right now, we have tried to make sure this campaign was about finding common ground and reaching across and actually getting things done for the a people. i have a challenge. i have this challenged my my future colleagues in washington, don't wait on me. take this election from the greathi state of alabama. [cheers and a applause]

let me finish. take this election with the people of alabama said we want to get something done. we want you to find common ground. we want you to talk. take this opportunity, in light of this election command go ahead and fund that chip program before i get up there. put it aside, and let's do it for those million kids and 150,000 here in birmingham, alabama, . i'm not going to talk too much longer. it's been a long night, a long campaign. let me just say -- i know i have forgotten so much. i have forgotten so much, so many think use. this vote, i've said before, alabama has been at a

crossroads. we have been a crossroads in the past and unfortunately we have usually taken the wrong forward. tonight, ladies and gentlemen, you took the right road. usa. >> [chanting] usa, usa, usa. on a very personal level, let me tellll you, and i have said this at the top and i do mean it. it i seems, i want to thank each of you for helping me fulfill a lifelong dream of serving in the united states senate that started out with my mentor, and ever since then it's been my dream. thank you for that.

as we approach this crossroads, we have work to do. we have work to do in this state to build those bridges within the state, reach across with those who didn't vote for us to try to find common ground. i am pledging to do that tonigh tonight. but i willni tell you tonight ia night for rejoicing because, as dr. king said, as dr. king liked to quote "the moral ark of the universe is long butra it bends towards us." -- towards justice. tonight, ladies and gentlemen, tonight, tonight and this time, in this place, you helped vend that moral arc a little closer to justice and you did it.

not only was it bent more. not only was it same drawer but you send it right through the heart of the great state of alabama in doing so. thank you all. i love you. thank you. thank you, and god bless you. god bless the great state of alabama in the united states of america. >> shannon: you been listening to doug jonesof in alabama, pulling off a run for the u.s. senate. he will be the next senator to join here in washington with a lot on the plate of the g.o.p. how much will it cost them in losing that seat? we expect to hear from roy moore eventually. let's hear from john merrill, his reaction. secretary, great to have ufos. what can you tell us about turnout? we thought it was going to be critical. >> the people of alabama really responded in this campaign, unlike anything that was

expected. when you see exactly what happened with more than 1.2 million alabamians participating, this is a record participation effort and the people of alabama are to be applauded for their encouragement and support of bothth candidates and both campaigns. >> shannon: we've talked a lot about it. not only a special election, a special specialci election. it's part of a run off now and there been so many competing stories and scandals in all these kind of things. and that o gets us to tonight. you and i've had many conversations as this has unfold in the last few weeks about writing votes and i want to talk about something that comes from steve hayes, i'm sure from your office, he says "jones votes, 640,000, 520. about 9,000 votes difference. he says writings were 22,044. those folks who decided to have write in votes instead of picking one of these candidates, in more than covered the margin by double. for t them to take the time to

vote on the day when they knew their writing and probably wouldn't matter, it seems like quite a statement. >> it is. it's important to note that all those writing votes will be documented and recorded and printed. we will understand who receive thosese votes and what that will mean in the final difference. we have sent instructions to the probate judges a couple times. we will send them again tonight to make sure they know those votes are supposed to be counted, documented and recorde recorded. we will have those in the information received by our office toward the end of the week. >> shannon: it'll be interesting to see the names that come up that i would imagine reviewing c jeff sessions, other names from alabama, maybe mo brooks, others part of the initial first larger election before getting us to. this runoff. you surprised that people would cast a vote thatur they knew probably wouldn't impact the

tally for one of the but actually gave doug jones the huge advantage, the win here. >> certainly looks that way. one of the things i think needs to be accepted as the people of alabama were trying to make a statement with those writing votes and they wanted to make those votes were recorded and documented. still it's always interesting to me to see that data when it comes. we see the other names in the effort people made to go to the pulse on a day like today and not vote for one of the two main candidates. we look forward to that. when you anticipate that information will be available and when will you certify the results that doug jones will be that step closer to coming to washington. >> one of the things that needs to be noted is the provisional ballots overcast today will be processed and counted a next tuesday, the information about the ride ends will be processed next tuesday.

that information needs to be back in our office by next friday the 22nd. the earliest the vote can be certified will be the 26th day of december. the latest will bend january 3. in that window, there are a number of things that need to be processed and executed by the local offices in each county as well as our office in the secretary of state. we need to make sure everything is done according to plan to ensure the integrity and preservation of the credibility of this process is secure. >> shannon: demand we now think is the senator elect, though not officially without your certification but doug jones, the man appears to one tonight democrat, he's got a lot waiting for him here in washington. so folks are reminded this is a two-year term for him. he fills out the seat vacated by jeff sessions when he became the attorney general. two years outcome a lot of people are running for the seat. how do you think this will play out two years from now question like this has been one of the most unusual campaigns we've

seen in a long time. seems like within months, the two sides are going to be looking at this as a fresh seat again.n. >> certainly does. it's something that needs to be given a great deal of attention. a lot people is said that of doug jones won, he would become the scott brown of alabama. scott brown was serving massachusetts after senator kennedy's death, and he served for two years head was defeated by elizabeth warren. there are number of things that can happen but it's important to make sure those continued to be processed according toed the way the people of alabama intend for them to be processed. i also think it's important to note that we need to make sure we are giving attention to every detail in section 17 -- 16 -- 20 of the code talks about an automatic recount provision and it could be that george moore's team will want to pay for a recount to occur foror it being within half of 1%.

the automatic recount happens when it's half of 1% but depending on how it evolves at this point, those provisions are counted, or to see how other things affect it, it could reduce that number a little bit more than it is now to make it half of 1%. if that takes place global follow state law in order to ensure the integrity and preservation of the credibility of the process. >> shannon: it's in a part in fact to look at as you go through the balancing edge of the finalug numbers. i'm not sure your offices going to want to tackle that after all you been through. i know you will do it dutifully. but i know you would probably like to take a nap as well. >> spent unbelievable. there is no doubt about that. statement secretary, we will talk to you soon. thanks for your time. while we await roy moore, we expect to hear a concession speech, we want to go back to dough, jones is headquarters in birmingham. doug mckelway's been there all a

day. you've been giving updates. folks felt confident even when numbers initially were not in their f favor. they knew what k they were lookg for and they felt pretty confident. >> i think that's definitely the case, shannon. doug jones is still on the stage.k, he is waving to people, friends and volunteers here. thoroughly enjoying the moment. this has been a quest of his since he was a young man on first got involved in politics. not only is it victory night for doug jones, it's also his 25th wedding anniversary, as you might've heard during his victory speech. he and his wife louise are still running their 25th anniversary. he paid homage to a key guy who happens to be a failure -- fame face. >> we had a great team. >> what made this work? >> i think the country really is looking for people to bring the

country together and stop the division in washington. i think doug jones spoke to that. there was a lot from his speech tonight, finding common ground, trying to work together across party lines and there's not a lot of that going on in washington. ing think people in alabama responded to that. >> you are not of the mind that it was the sexual harassment accusations. there were polls as far back as early summer that showed this was a dead heat. >> i'm not saying it didn't have anything to do that but we were down one point long before "the washington post" stories or any of these allegations came out. it certainly didn't help him. i mean, moore but moore has always had some trouble in the state. it worked against, almost against what people were looking for. he is seen as divisive, seen as controversial. they didn't want more of that. >> did you sense that moore was not ready for prime time?

i recall a radio interview he did in early summer where the host asked him, what's your position on the dreamers. >> there was a lot of that.in i think people knew him for a long time. he had been removed from office twice already. he was controversial. what they were looking for was somebody that was going to try to find common ground, try to work with other people, work with senator shelby, their other senator. i think doug jones, we reached enough people, he did, and that's what got us over the lin line. >> this is a deeply red state. is doug jones a one term senator or does this represent a sea change in alabama politics? >> we just won. we will see. i think it will get down to how, canning work across party lines, bring people together, work with senator shelby. if he can come i think the state will like it.

that's what they wanted by electing him. we will see. that's what he's going to try to do. washington is a tough place to do that. no one is kidding themselves. >> senator cory gardner, republican from colorado, already asked him to join the republican caucus. any chance of that happening? >> i don't think that is going to happen, but i do think he'll join some, you know, caucus to bring people together. >> joe trippi, this is quite a feather in your cap, as well. congratulations. >> a lot of good people worked on it. it was a great team. i am proud to have been a part of it, really, it was amazing. >> go to see you. safe travels. shannon, back to you. >> shannon: doug mckelway live with the doug jones campaign on a winning night for them.do with that win, the balance of power in the center gives even tighter for republicans, 49 democrats, what happens now? tax reform, they'll probably get that done. republicans hope so. but let's break it down with fox news politics editor chris stirewalt. good to see you tonight on a

busy night, sir. i want to read the president's tweet that we just got done he says, "congratulations to doug jones on a hard-fought victory. this write-in votes played a very big factor. a win is a win and the republicans will have a shot and another short period of time. it never ends." in the meantime, they will have a democrat in that seat. >> that was a very gracious tweet.t. especially, since, if you recall, after his preferred candidate lost in virginia, he roasted the guy on twitter in real time in the same evening, complaining about ed gillespie. this time, he didn't denigrate roy moore, who, by the way, we recall, was not the candidate that the president wanted to wio in the republican primary.as this is not the guy, roy moore was not the guy that trump chose to win for the republican primary. and guess what? this is something that steve bannon and his acolytes f are going to have to think about now. donald trump was right about the alabama primary.. steve bannon, the president's chief political advisor during the campaign, was wrong.

so that is something that bannon and his team are going to have to factor in as they go into 2018. how much of this primary battle stuff do they want to do? how much of the civil war stuffc do they want to do? what other seats could it cost them? >> shannon: i talked to thes senate majority leader about this and about bannon backing other antiestablishment candidates that are often at odds with the party would like to do. he wouldn't even say his name, if you remember that.od he noted the person you mentioned is how he referred to bannon, has picked the a lot of losers.is tonight, this is going to bed a mixed night for mitch mcconnell. he loses a critical vote, ator least for a couple of years, but he has now had proof of his feelings that steve bannon is not helpful to the party. >> there's that and also the more important consideration for mitch mcconnell, who is thinking very much about the 2018 midterm elections. having roy moore serving in the united states might have cost multiple seats for republicans.

you can't know. having roy moore as a sitting u.s. senator, we can disabuse ourselves of any notion that e e would be kicked out or removed or what how do if he got elected, having him as a sitting u.s. senator was going to be trouble for the rest of his party because, guess what? not every state is as a republin as alabama and not every state is as accommodating as the views of roy moore as alabama might be. when you take that show on the road and democrats start pushing roy moore across the country,co that could have cost mcconnell other seats. i think from that perspective, and what he is most concerned about, holding that majority, growing it by a seat or two, this is important. winning is always better than losing. winning is always better than losing, but this may be one where the silver lining is quite considerable. >> shannon: okay, so right now, when the g.o.p. is trying to get stuff done on the hill. they have the vice president to be the tiebreaker if they need him. now they are down to one. does this mean that one republican senator is going to

be able to derail anything? a contrarian libertarian like rand paul or often lisa murkowski or susan collinsb it seems like you are always trying to hold that together if you are the g.o.p., the coalition.er but now, they are down to one. t >> susan collins' christmas list will be fulfilled. i predict. d whatever it is that she desires is coming her way because as republicans think about how youi get things done and, as you say, they can lose two, but now, after they get into the new senate, after these results are certified in a couple of weeks and we get the new look senate, they can only use one. that will not affect them as they try to do this jam through at the very end of the year, they will have a minute right here, put a lot of pressure on them, more pressure on theo taxes, the must pass end of yeae stuff that is so crucial. in the next year, whatever has to be done, they won't do much. but whatever has to be done, each of those senators will feel

like they have more veto than ever before. >> shannon: with that in mind, and the power play that the president had tweeted and talk about the fact that we needit ts vote in the center, accusing doug jones about being bad on crime and the border, but our voter analysis, i think you give it the acronym earlier tonight, fnva, talking about what was most important to people, number one, candidates morality came out on top as 92% when asked to rank these different options. second was a party control of the senate. it sounds like people's issues about morality trumped the day, no pun intended, when it came to listening to the president about losing control of the center for the g.o.p. >> let's be plain about it. for the people of the alabama who are overwhelmingly conservative republicans politically, this would -- this was a choice between the united states senate and also bringing discredit to their state, looking silly, looking ridiculous. i would just point out, alabamag is only a generation or two

removed when a time when its name was tied to infamy, when it was tied to george wallace, when it was tied to about -- avowed and enthusiastic segregation. it is not something that alabamians are particularly interested in associating themselves with. that is why roy moore, in the past, was not only removed from office but struggled in statewide races and that is why when you put the added part on about the sex scandal, he just becomes a no-go and i think that is when you get those tens ofom thousands of write-in votes, saying won't vote for the democrat but i think it's important, they are saying, i want you to know i was here. i want you to know i was here. if you wouldn't have failed me, i would have been there for you. >> shannon: if at one point, w the numbers will change throughout the night, we will get more provisional votes and things counted, but at one point, it was a 9,000 vote margin. if you got 22,000 write-ins, they people were fired up, they wanted to be heard but not attached to any one of these guys. we will learn a lot more about who those names were. i'm sure we will recognize many

of them. l >> nick saban ftw. >> shannon: he and jeff sessions will be in there a lot. chris stirewalt, have a good night. what does the alabama senate race now say about this. conservatives versus the establishment republicans? "fox news @ night" spoke to senate majority leader mitch mcconnell about the former white house chief advisor over there. steve bannon. here is what he said. >> back in 2010 and 2012, the person you mentioned and his allies succeeded in nominating five candidates who all lost. we succeeded in 2014 and 2016 in defeating sure losers. >> shannon: let's welcome the political panel tonight. senior columnist from townhall.com, and radio host and fox news contributor, great to see both of you tonight. gentleman. >> great to be here. >> shannon: on one hand, mitch mcconnell is not a happy

camper tonight, he has lost a seat, but on the other hand, he might be doing a victory dance because he wouldn't even say bannon's name and he wanted to say this guy keeps picking losers.. i'm doing the right thing. he's not. >> i think that sounds about right.t. one of the big winners is the quote unquote donald trump likes to call the swamp but establishment republicans. remember, at the beginning, they wanted luther strange, they lost that race, and then you saw establishment republicans, including richard shelby, saying, hey, listen, don't watch -- vote for this guy, and i am not voting for this guy. this speaks to the larger problem the republic and party has. now that donald trump is in the white house, i would argue as part of the farther left fringe of the party, i think he is connected synonymously with steve bannon, the biggest problem they have is how do t ty talk to suburban voters? suburban voters of virginia? we find out that they can't talk to suburban voters in alabama. this is very problematic for the republican party moving forward, especially as we look to getting

trump's agenda through end of 2018 election. >> shannon: i feel like i can already hear kurt chuckling. this was such a unique race. i think it is hard to draw too many generalities from it. in the end, people did say, according to our analysis and data that morality matters to them over party. >> shannon, let's be really clear and that's not try and sugarcoat it. we, republicans, lost. we lost a seat we should have won. who lost it? to figure it out and figure out how to fix it. we lost because the establishment tried to jam an establishment candidate down the throats of the alabama voters and the primary and they rebelled. they nominated a kook, roy moore was a terrible candidate before and a terrible candidate especially after the revelations came out.. we have problems on both sides. the conservative insurgents are sick and tired of not being listened to. the establishment in washington is sick and tired of having the voters on the beltway trying to

have input. we need to come together. we need to do it quick. we need to learn the lessons of virginia and the lessons of alabama, which is our voters are not going to show up if we don't give them a proper choice and we did not do that. we need to make lemons out of this -- lemonade out of these lemons, shannon. l we have a lot of lemons tonight. >> shannon: we are waiting roy moore, who appears to have been defeated, they g.o.p. nominee in alabama for the u.s. senate. we will keep an eye on that and asthere live to hear from his that happens. in the meantime, richard, it is interesting, you looked at a lot of data that was coming at us today from voters and folks down in alabama.in it was interesting that a lot of people said they stayed home because of these allegations involving moore. they didn't want to vote at all. the 22,000 plus who showed up just to write-in a name including senator shelby, as you mention, because they wanted to be heard in this whole thing, so they didn't want to have to apparently vote for either one

of these candidates they found unacceptable. >> i think that is very interesting. the 22,000 numbers were interesting, also the fact that doug jones won this race, looking at 10,000 votes, more will come in as younals and so . but i think it speaks to the larger problem that donald trump will have.ls donald trump wholeheartedly embraced roy moore as a candidate, even though, as my colleague says, he was ate kook. he was a kook that won overwhelmingly in the primary against luther strange. that speaks to the fact that republicans are having a bit of a problem and coming together -- >> shannon: but richard, there were none of these allegations against moore when that happened. none of those were public because it makes a huge difference. had they been public during that earlier primary vote, you know, the g.o.p. may have decided on somebody else. >> i hear what you are saying but let's also remember that roy moore is guilty for saying comments like lgbtq people should be put to death. his rhetoric was problematic

before -- >> shannon: i'm not sure that he said those exact words. we need to do a fact-checkat on that. >> i think i'm almost right. >> roy moore is a terrific -- was a terrifically flawed candidate. i think we ought to be honest with ourselves and say that. even though he was terrifically flawed, he almost pulled this out, he almost won. as republicans, we need to learn from this. we are having a civil war in the party between the establishment and the conservative insurgents. it is time we come to a resolution. the people outside of washington, d.c., want to be heard, they don't want amnesty, they don't wantt corporate welfare. they don't want all this other nonsense that we have been seeing. listen to the people and come together and put candidateseo forward who aren't decisively flawed. >>

is he part of the establishment or the insurgency? >> shannon: that has been a tough part of a question. this race has been all over the place with bannon and the president on different sides of everything. we see people now coming to the microphone, so we expect we'll hear from roy moore shortly. in the meantime, richard and kurt, if you will stay with us, we do want to check in at moore headquarters and find out when we will hear from the judge. in the meantime, let's check in with peter doocy in montgomery. correct me, i heard earlier today, we got some emails, i don't know who it was, correct me, something about, we are going to win tonight, it's a landslide. that is not how it turned out. why were they so sure? >> shannon, this is the most extensive word we have gotten from the campaign right now, the chairman's speaking, but he jus came out to say that the night is not over for the moore supporters who are gathered here because they are hoping to get

the margin within a half of a percent to trigger an automatic recount. this is the first official antion of the possibility of recount that we have heard from here, but they are talking about a recount and they are not talking about any kind of a concession. so we know that judge moore has been here at one point. they did turn off the tv. they stopped showing "the new york times"'s tracker of the counties coming in blue that led the networks to collect. -- call it. actually, they came out and ask the people here to keep the faith and they started singing hymns. i took notes. "how great thou art," "all hail the power of jesus' name." the very quiet crowd was the singing with a group of young people who were up on the stage, but things are not over, the way that the moore campaign sees it right now.

to that end, though, up on capitol hill, i am also getting some reaction tonight -- and you know what, here is roy moore. >> thank you. thank you. i really want to thank you for coming tonight and realize when the vote is this close, it iss not over. we still got to go by the rules about this recount provision, and secretary of state has explained it to us and we areou expecting that the press will go up there and talk to them to find out what the situation is. but we also know that god is always in control. you know, part of the problem with this campaign is we have been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light. we have been put in a hole, if you will, and it reminds me

of a passage in psalms 40. "i waited patiently for the lord,"sa that is what we have to do. he inclined to me and heard my cry and brought us up also out of a horrible pit out of clay and set my feet on the rock and established my goings and put a new song in my mouth. we are praising to our god. many shall see it, hear it, and shall be moved by that. if you will. and that is what we have got to do is wait on god and let this process play out. i know it's late. we can't wait and have everybody wait till after 11:00. but the votes are still coming in and we are looking at that. may god bless you as you go on, may he give you a safe journey, and thank you for coming tonight. it's not over and it's going to take some time. thank you. >> shannon: okay. so not a concession speech from roy moore tonight, although we and just about every other outlet there has called this race for doug jones.

as you heard the secretary of state on earlier tonight, he did say to us that under alabama law, if the vote was is and a half percentage point, it does qualify for a recount. tonight, moore is hinting at that. saying he is not conceding. there are provisional ballots and other things that will take some time to sift through. not every vote is in. far from it. his camp is hoping for a bit of a miracle. quoting from the bible talking about god hearing his cry and climbing to his -- lift them out of the clay. essentially, what they are doing is hoping on what will be there last hope is to get the vote and have a percentage point and trigger that recount. bret baier joins us now. not a concession tonight. >> no. there are other bible verses that say, "it's over." i will tell you what, the numbers that we are looking at,

it could be three, four points, just looking at the projections right now. the raw vote total is roughly 9,000. we had 22,044 write-ins. you talked to chris stirewalt earlier about it. 22,000, that is double the difference. there you see the lead is increasing on the raw vote total, 670 now. just looking at the map, looking where the votes are, it doesn'tt seem like it's going to get to that half percent, not even close. more like it's expanding and not contracting. so i think eventually, you are going to see from the moore campaign a concession. >> shannon: it's interesting because in watching the data we were getting in the fox news voter analysis, one of the groups we were really watchingng were white evangelicals because i think they went by 90% or more for mitt romney in the last big race, the presidential race. tonight, the split was 74%,90

jones, 22%. not enough to put moore on top unless something miraculous happens with what is ito remaining to come in. certainly a drop off from what we saw for mitt romney. you'll remember, lot of conversation about whether evangelicals would vote for a mormon candidate, even less of them felt like voting for roy moore apparently.co >> that's true. i just listened to the other conversation. this is apples and oranges to the virginia race. it's just completely, completely different. this was a very flawed candidate. these allegations are overwhelmed all of the coverage. his first interview with sean hannity was really, really bad as far as a candidate making a pitch or trying to stop the bleeding on a story that was getting out of hand for his campaign. he fought back in part because of all of the other allegations that were flying and accusations and resignations that were happening on the democratic side and in the world of hollywood. but it overwhelmed.

just the write-ins alone, you saw the president's tweet mentioning that number, and what was actually a very gracious tweet if you think about where the president has been on commenting on some of these races. >> shannon: the g.o.p. certainly did not want to lose a senate seat. that is not helpful for supreme court nominations or anything else they have going on over there. but in a way, does this eliminate some sort of headache that they would've had to deal with moving forward? apparently the word was there was going to be a 10:00 a.m. meeting with mitch mcconnell to get everyone in the g.o.p. ono the same page if roy moore won because we heard so much conversation about, do they seat him right away, do they refer him to the ethics committee? at least for now they have lost a vote but they don't have to deal with that part of the conversation. >> exactly. over the past few days, you have seen the mantra that has started to develop about the president't accusers and calls for him to resign, and investigations. and i think you were going to

see more of that. if you had roy moore in that seat, the g.o.p. establishment believed that that was going to be a real problem in 2018. doug jones is going to be a democrat. he will probably hold the line on some things. but if you want to get reelected in 2020, he is going to have to check the box in what alabama believes, at least some of that, because if you put policies of the trump agenda up for a vote in alabama, it would be an overwhelming win. >> shannon: i heard someone refer to him -- you may remember who it is -- potentially a senator joe manchin of alabama. he is also somebody who is a conservative, moderatelyan conservative democrat. he knows how the voters at home feel, and i was there in west virginia covering a senate race when he ran. there were people on both sides of the aisle who loved him, who felt like he was through to west virginia values that hele wasn't going to tow the party line. do you think that is the space that doug jones will be forced into?

>> yeah, i think so. manchin, heidi heitkamp, joe donnelly, fitting all of that.nk so far, we should point out, democrats have held the line when the democratic leadership has said vote this way. even not discussing tax reform,s not to vote to argue tax reform on the senate floor. i would think it would be interesting to see how doug jones votes. i do believe that this race, as we called it, is going to turn out to be about three or four points. i will note that president trump weighed in on three elections over the past three months. luther strange, ed gillespie, and roy moore. all three of them are losses.er does it tie directly to president trump or does it tie to steve bannon playing the other side? we don't know how it is going tb fall out but the first reaction from the president was to congratulate jones and to say the write-ins caused this loss. >> shannon: yeah and as we get the final numbers in the coming

weeks, we will learn a lot about how that filters out. unlikely at this point that they get to the .5 percentage spacing between the two candidates that they need to get to a recount so we will continue to watch it. excellent coverage as always, bret. thank you. let's bring back the panel. a senior columnist from townhall.com and radio talk show host and fox news contributor richard fowler. they have the winners and losers from tonight. we touched on this a little bit. kurt, who were the winners and losers now that doug jones, it appears, has won the seat? >> wow. i think in a way mitch mcconnell is a loser. he will get a lot of blame from the conservatives insurgents for this because he pushed luther strange. he has to thread the needle with 51 votes instead of 52. so it will be tough. but let's look, steve bannon has lost, steve bannon brought roy moore in, pushed roy moore and roy moore stumbled. he managed to lose alabama..

still trying to wrap my head about that. another big loser are people who like the second amendment, people who don't like abortion, people who don't like amnesty. conservative voters have lost an important voice. this is not a good night. we got another one coming up in a year!ig >> shannon: [laughs] it's never over. as you all know and as the president tweeted tonight, it never ends because there is always another election. richard, walk us through your winners and losers with jones being the winner tonight. >> with jones the winner, i will add to my list. i think black voters were a big winner because they once again showed up for the democratic party in a major way. the other one is "the washington post," who was the first publication to rollout a story about roy moore and i think they are big winner tonight. the third big winner is the establishment. to go off of what bret was saying a couple of moments ago is they normally have to worry about the guy sleeping downstairs, but now that he isgo

not going to be in the senate chambers, they can try their best to delete him from their memory and hope that democrats don't bring him back up for all of the things that was wrong with his candidacy. in the previous segment, i want to correct myself, the comments he made was that being gay was illegal. correcting myself. >> shannon: thank you and credit to because we always want to make sure that people know what is factual. it is a great characteristic for us all, we make mistakes, to admit them. thank you, richard. >> absolutely. >> shannon: i know that you have said that you think the president is a loser here. this is interesting, setting up a weird dynamic between bannon, the president, mitch mcconnell. it is kind of a weird stew as they move back and forth between these candidates. m i did not see steve bannon, did not hear from him, i don't know what his take is going to be. he was all in. >> [laughter] he is probably out back at the moore rally pounding his head into the wall. i

i think -- donald trump occupies this interesting space where he triangulates between the steve bannon wing and the mitch mcconnell wing. he goes back and forth and he plays with them both. he supported luther strange and then he supported roy moore to keep that seat. i don't think donald trump is going to get any blame from the conservative voters about this. i think they have taken donald trump out of this equation. it was very much a roy moore centric vote. not that we shouldn't learn from it, but he was a uniquely flawed candidate. he managed to lose a uniquely republican state. i don't think donald trump is going to get any blame, at least not from republicans, and if democrats try and cast on him, i don't know if it will resonate. >> i beg to differ. the reason why, if you look at other republicans, i think the

model example is senator shelby from the state of alabama, he was like, "i won't even vote for this guy, even though he is from my state, i would rather giveba this seat to a democrat than to give it to roy moore" on the president, on the other hand, had a rally just outside of the borders of alabama, he did robo calls into the state, he forced the party, after disengaged, to reengage, and these are all things that are connected clearly to president trump. not to mention all the tweets endorsing roy moore. it is hard to split him from roy moore or to split him from steve bannon because what we have seen in this race is they followed the steve bannon playbook down to the tea. in the virginia race, they were like, it is because theyte didnt embrace trump. roy moore did that and he still lost. >> shannon: we have to remind folks, in case you have been under a rock, this is a very unusual race.. really quickly before we go, do democrats risk missing the point or reading too much into it if they say this is a referendum on

trump?or >> i think they do. i want to encourage them to do that because i love it when democrats -- as i was taught at fort benning, never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake. the thing i don't want is republicans to make a mistake. i don't want us to think, this was just roy moore, this was just a one-off. there are a lot of things going on and i think richard had a good point. black voters were energized and they came out and they made their voice heard. we need to understand that a lot of people who sometimes we lazily count on to not vote are engaged. that means we have to engage republican voters, reach out to everyone who can be conservative of all colors, all persuasions, of all groups, and we need to work. if we don't work, we will get creamed next year. >> shannon: we got to leave it there. it's a good lesson for either party to assume that any particular voting block will always be with you, that's a mistake.

that is portrayed and provenil n races all over the place. thank you so much. if you will stick around for us, we'll go back to moore headquarters, he did not concede.e. correspondent peter doocy is here. peter, we started the conversation earlier in the day, they were saying to you that they felt like this was sort of a slam dunk. what went wrong? how was their analysis so off? >> shannon, it was a little bit noisy so i couldn't hear your question. i can tell you that the room, because no one expects moore to come out and they think that the resolution for this resolution -- race will come in the morning, it is finally starting to empty out. really, the room that was completely quiet as everyone was getting text alerts and seeing on twitter that the networks were calling the race, had never really picked back up until moore came out and said, "it is not over." it's a different story, though, on capitol hill. c i just got a text message from a very senior g.o.p. source on the

hill who thinks that this isex mitch mcconnell's fault but not for the reason that everybody has been saying, not for the same reason that steve bannon and his allies think. the source on the hill thinks that it goes all the way back to when there were three people still in the primary before it was a runoff. luther strange, roy moore, and mo brooks. essentially, when mitch mcconnell came in to try to defeat mo brooks and boot -- boost luther strange, the mcconnell brand was so toxic in alabama that it ended up diminishing luther strange and giving rise to judge roy moore who, tonight, is not giving up. shannon. >> shannon: we will watch and see. it appears as we are getting more votes in that gap between the candidates arec. widening. as a reminder, roy moore did not concede. he wants to see if this quote -- vote will get within the half percentage point between the two

primary candidates. if it does, that could trigger a recount. he told folks tonight it's not over, he was going to wait for that and wait to see. as they disperse on their side, many of them believing it is unresolved. we will see because it doesn'the look like the votes are moving in that direction. there are a lot still to come in and be counted, so we'll let you know. with doug l jones winning, the balance of the power in the center gets tighter. 51 republicans, 49 democrats. what happens now? a lot on the agenda. let's check in with chris stirewalt, the fox news politics editor coverages see where we go from here.n again, there are so many things that are easy to get passed. we still have to get tax form done, but immigration, there are so many other things, probably a supreme court confirmation next year, and that one vote margin gets that much tougher. >> what do you know? do you know? >> shannon: i'm just saying. standby.

#standby. >> one thing about the data, if i could just revert to my decision desk mode for one quick second, we have all the vote in now that we will have tonight. but there are still going to be contested ballots that will be part of the canvas that will go through. we would expect, if not the preponderance of them, but the c bulk of them, to be probably from places where jones would do better. you tend to find more contested ballots in lower income areas, minority areas, these are going to be areas where he should do better. we should expect the marginng to grow out a little bit probably for jones and it doesn't look like there is any way that ends up with and half a point. >> shannon: it looks like continues to move in the other direction. at what point would you expect him to come forward and make that concession?n? do you think we get it tomorrow? >> based on roy moore's career, i wouldn't be surprised if he starts funding for a recount push. >> shannon: if you are not within half a point, it is not happening.ng >> you could raise money for a lot of things.

one of the things about american politics is, even in defeat, it doesn't mean you can get get rich off losing. as don king would say, only in america can you make a good living off of being bad at politics. >> shannon: many have proven that and we have tracked them and followed their careers. we got to leave it there. thank you very much for all of your hard work tonight. we've got other big, big nonelection news will get you right after this break. . ♪ (burke) at farmers, we've seen almost everything

so we know how to cover almost anything. even a swing set standoff. and we covered it, july first, twenty-fifteen. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪

>> shannon: this is a fox news alert. special counsel robert mueller's investigation may be wrapping up. that is according to white house attorney ty cobb. we are getting new details tonight on 10,000 text messages between fi agent peter strzok who was taken off off the mahlr investigation, and his mistress, lisa page. kristin fisher is here, we got these texts tonight, pouring through and finding out what these two are talking about. >> fox news has just obtained the 10,000 text messages between strzok and page. this is a big deal because thesb are the anti-trump text messages that lead to special counsel robert mueller to remove strzok from the russian investigation,

though he has since been relocated within the fbi. 10,000 is a big number, we are still going through them. here's what us jumped out at us so far. last march, right in the middle of the campaign, paige said, "god, trump is a loads i'm human." strzok replied, he may win. he said, were to be a worse president and ted cruz? page replied, i think so. omg, he's an idiot. later that same day, strzok said, "god, hillary should win 100 million to zero." about a month later, paige texted him, "so look, you say we text on that phone when we talk about hillary because it can't be traced." page appears to be acknowledge it, they know they are doing something that shouldn't be done or at the very least something that they don't want traced. remember, all of these texts were takener place during the fbi's investigation of hillary clinton's emails and strzok was an integral part of that investigation. he is the one credited with

changing the wording in james comey's assessment from grossly negligent to extremely careless. after trump secures the nomination and it's a little unclear exactly what page is referring to, she says, "maybe you are meant to stay where you are because you are meant to protect the country from that menace." strzok replied, "it's absolutely true that we are both very fortunate and of course i will try and approach it that way, i just know it will be tough at times. i can protect our country at many levels. not sure if that helps." even though both strzok and pedro no longer in the special counsel's office, all of this feeds into the narrative and the accusations for manyo republicans that muller's probed is tainted because people have an anti-trump bias. here is one of mr. trump's personal attorneys, jay sekulow, tonight. >> at the end of the day, you have to say, how is this allowed to continue? why are they not terminated? the answer is -- people don't like when you say it -- it is

the deep state, the bureaucrats. >> another white house attorney ty cobb, said that mueller's team is done interviewing white houses. officials. he believes the special i counsel's investigation is going to be wrapped up soon. we are talking weeks, maybe months, but democrats have comee out and said that that's either complete fictionom or with wishl thinking. shannon,n, believe what you will on that one for you to speak to a very big story coming out tonight, the same end of the election. we will continue to pour through these. >> they are still coming on. >> shannon: there is a lot. 10,000 to read.00 it takes a little time. we thank you for pouring through. let's go back to doug jones' campaign headquarters in birmingham.es h he is the victor. doug mckelway has been there on a night they were feeling confident. he's made his victory speech, but doug, roy moore is not conceding. >> i'm having really hard time hearing you with all the noise. to wrap up what happened

tonight, i wonder if republicans in the t senate, especially in e leadership of the senate, are breathing a big sigh of relief. yes, they have the slimmest of margins, quite literally, one-vote o majority in the sena. imagine the problems they would have had, had roy moore won and you would have this endless fight between the leadership and roy moore. much of the population of alabama and the rest of the country hounding at roy moore for every stance he would take in washington. some people are wandering here whether this would have been a blessing.is also, people are wondering whether hee would've been out of legal jeopardy, as well. reading up on the statute in alabama there is no statute of limitations against sexual assault in alabama, if the victim was under the age of 16 at the time. we all know that one of his victims was 14-year-old at the time she had her experience with

roy moore. also, doug jones ran in a credible campaign here. he is a formidable candidate for alabamians, who walk the walk and talk the talk, he was campaigning endlessly here, covered something likeer 8,000 miles in the last several monthsth while his opposition ws going to the football game, the army-navy game in philadelphia. yes, many people so that was not a bad idea, a demonstration of roy moore's patriotism, what have gone overhe well here. the bottom line was that he was not answering reporters questions, he was knocked meetingee with his constituents, and demand, it did not pay off for him. back to you. >> shannon: doug mckelway at doug jones' victory headquarters. the alabama senate race that has captured headlines for weeks, if not months,s, is over tonight. judge roy moore was not the victor but he has not conceded. he is hoping to capitalize on the state law that would allow a recount if this margin gets to within a half percentage point.

it doesn't look to be moving in that direction. we'll wait and see whatwh the reaction from the moore campaign is. now, doug jones prepares to be the next senator sworn and here, changing the balance of power, taking a way one quote from the g.o.p. >> shannon: this is a fox news alert. we want to take you to alabama where democrat dougwe jones is celebrating his victory, havingi been just elected to the u.s. in it. in. just take with us a minute. he pulled off a race that just weeks ago, many would've thought impossible. that was before allegations against roy moore dating back decades in some cases surfaced and voters we saw today were really conflicted over whether or not they believed those allegations. we had a big number of voters actually tell us in our vor