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[CazTGG]

While 2018 is a long way away, Alabama is having a special election to fill Jeff Sessions' seat this very year that could potentially tip the Senate's balance to a slim 51-49 majority for the GOP. Primaries were held today before election in December and the ongoing results can be found here: https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/alabama-senate-special-election-primary

EDIT: Roy Moore and Luther Strange will be in a runoff election on Spetember 26th as neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote. The winner will go on to face Doug Jones in December for the seat.

 

[gcubed]

It's already over, runoff

 

[CazTGG]

It's already over, runoff

 

[gcubed]

There is absolutely 0 chance a Democrat wins, so Moore vs Strange is for the seat. A shit sandwich and a shit sandwich

 

[SURGEdude]

Roy Moore may be the biggest cunt in politics. Thank god he's old.

 

[chaosblade]

Will need to vote for Strange in the runoff. Neither is good, but holy shit, fuck Roy Moore.

Jones for the general, but a Dem isn't winning a senate seat in Alabama.

 

[The Sum of Zero]

Both are shit.

 

[Dead Prince]

There is absolutely 0 chance a Democrat wins, so Moore vs Strange is for the seat. A shit sandwich and a shit sandwich

Trump is endorsing Luther lestrange on Twitter

 

[jiiikoo]

Dougie Jones. Omg.

Trump is endorsing Luther lestrange on Twitter

And this guy sounds like a cartoon baddie. Luther Lestrange. Maybe I'm tired, but I almost spit my morning coffee out when I read that name.

 

[Jombie]

Strange, Moore and Brooke's are three of the nastiest pig eyed fucks in the state.

 

[CazTGG]

There is absolutely 0 chance a Democrat wins, so Moore vs Strange is for the seat. A shit sandwich and a shit sandwich

It's a long shot to be sure but given the general swing towards the Democrats in other special elections this year, it's not impossible. Highly unlikely since a Democrat hasn't represented Alabama in the senate for over three decades, but not impossible.

 

[bndadm]

Wife and I voted Dem first thing this morning. We at least trying in North Alabama.

 

[charpunk]

I vote for Mr. Jackpots.

 

[plagiarize]

Dougie Jones. Omg.

https://twitter.com/mfrost11/status/897652355134566403

Call for help.

Tee hee.

 

[Beartruck]

Luthor strange sounds like an amalgam comics character.

 

[kneePat]

While 2018 is a long way away, Alabama is having a special election to fill Jeff Sessions' seat this very year that could potentially tip the Senate's balance to a slim 51-49 majority for the GOP. .

edit: nvm I misunderstood.

 

[Vengrim]

edit: nvm I misunderstood.

Maybe you can clarify how you misunderstood 'cus I'm still misunderstanding. Luther Strange is already serving in Session's spot so I don't see any way for it to tip to 51 to 49 GOP majority. It stays 50/50 at worst.

 

[CazTGG]

Maybe you can clarify how you misunderstood 'cus I'm still misunderstanding. Luther Strange is already serving in Session's spot so I don't see any way for it to tip to 51 to 49 GOP majority. It stays 50/50 at worst.

Right now, the Senate is 52-48 for the GOP. If the Democrats flip this seat, unlikely as it may be, that means the GOP will have a 51-49 majority going into the midterms, which is not good news with two particularly vulnerable GOP senators and potentially McCain's seat up for grabs in 2018. That doesn't mean they'll net two seats-most polls i've seen range from a win to a loss of two Dem seats-but that also means the GOP has less breathing room to push through their agenda if this were to happen.

 

[Violence Jack]

https://twitter.com/mfrost11/status/897652355134566403

I snorted.

 

[Soapbox Killer]

I'm staying in the Hotel that Luther Strange is having their election rally. I knew there was trouble when I checked in and there was a Fox News truck out front.

So I was going to the Hotel Gym after the results came in. So me and one of my co-workers stayed to hear what he had to say. The first person he thanked was the President of the United States. Now, being a big black man from Philly, I've never heard or seen more than one Trump supporter in a room before, let alone 100. It was so surreal. Also, the looks that I was getting while walking through the lobby were awesome. (Bald head, Philly Beard)

 

[Lionel Mandrake]

The internet should really boost Doug Jones like they did with Jon Ossoff. I don't care if you don't think it'll make a difference, this man needs a voice and he probably can't get it from within the state. Change can come to red states, but it's going to take help from outsiders.

 

[CazTGG]

The internet should really boost Doug Jones like they did with Jon Ossoff. I don't care if you don't think it'll make a difference, this man needs a voice and he probably can't get it from within the state. Change can come to red states, but it's going to take help from outsiders.

Exactly, it's going to be a long and difficult road to turn the state purple, let alone blue, but it can happen given time and turnout, not to mention demographic shifts.

 

[chaosblade]

The internet should really boost Doug Jones like they did with Jon Ossoff. I don't care if you don't think it'll make a difference, this man needs a voice and he probably can't get it from within the state. Change can come to red states, but it's going to take help from outsiders.

I would like to believe that there are enough people that realize Roy Moore is a complete lunatic and hold their noses and vote for Jones. The man has been thrown off the bench of the state courts twice for being an ignorant jackass - why would a reasonable person expect him to be a competent senator?

I feel like half the problem with Democrats in states like Alabama is damaged branding. There are way too many people who are not happy with the current GOP and these candidates, but also won't even consider a Democrat solely because solely because of party affiliation, even if they could agree with the majority of their stances.

 

[Jorok Goldblade]

EDIT: Roy Moore and Luther Strange will be in a runoff election on Spetember 26th as neither candidate received more than 50% of the vote. The winner will go on to face Doug Jones in December for the seat.

What an awesome name wasted on such a shit person.

 

[ShironRedshift]

The internet should really boost Doug Jones like they did with Jon Ossoff. I don't care if you don't think it'll make a difference, this man needs a voice and he probably can't get it from within the state. Change can come to red states, but it's going to take help from outsiders.

As terrible as this might sound at first, I'd personally rather it didn't. Seems likely that that was one of the things that backfired for Ossoff and potentially cost him the race--turning something that should have been a local election into a national referendum (especially when compared to the SC race that was much lower profile going on at around the same time that the D candidate, while still losing, absolutely smashed expectations).

If this is made into a national thing like GA-6, it feels pretty certain the same thing will happen: people will just come out and vote party-line, motivated by the national eye. If it's kept low profile on the other hand and all attention is kept elsewhere, then it depends on who is actually motivated enough to show up and who isn't, a much more favorable environment. Still will be incredibly hard and unlikely, but if there's a chance at all, it would be from a low turnout race due to a combination of depressed Trump voter morale from all his idiocy and low attention on the race leading to a fluke Jones win (and if that happens, giving him the platform of an incumbent in future races).

Of course, it's definitely a super longshot either way and probably ain't going to happen. But based on GA-6 and what did (and did not) happen there, I'm definitely not convinced that bringing outsider attention and focus to these state/local races is the answer. Seems to make things just regress more to the mean/norm than they otherwise would have so I'm just really hesitant about trying it again. And if it's a longshot either way, I'd rather hope this race stays on the down-low and not get much attention if only to have another data point for comparison to help figure out if that type of attention played a role in how races like GA-6 turned out or not.