Alabama’s Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Doug Jones is trying to shore up support among black voters. Alabamians head to the polls in just over a week to choose between Jones and twice removed Chief Justice Roy Moore for the state’s junior seat in the Senate. Jones will participate in today’s Christmas parade in Selma. He’s appealing for an end to the divisiveness that has long been part of the state's politics. Jones is attempting to be the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama in 25 years, but it's an uphill fight. An attorney with working-class roots, he's a white Democrat in a state controlled by conservative white Republicans.
A new Washington Post-Schar School poll puts Jones just barely ahead of Roy Moore in a tight race. Fifty percent of those in survey favor Jones with forty seven percent going for Moore. Multiple allegations of sexual assault, child molestation, and sexual impropriety against Moore appear to be weighing heavily on the minds of voters. Fifty three percent in the poll thinks Jones have higher moral standards, while a third favors Moore.
Moore is working to shift the race away from the multiple accusations of his behavior around teenaged girls, to social issues like abortion. He's promising to work to defund Planned Parenthood and points to Jones' pro-choice stance. This week on Alabama Public Radio, student reporter Allison Mollenkamp reports on the difficulty Alabama women already face in seeking to end a pregnancy.