Alabama election results: Doug Jones defeats Roy Moore

Live results

What’s happening in Alabama

Democrat Doug Jones has won the special election to fill a Senate seat in Alabama, according to exit polls and returns – a shocking upset in a solidly Republican state, in which massive turnout among African American voters helped defeat a candidate enthusiastically backed by President Trump. The Associated Press called the race at 10:23 p.m. Eastern time.

Why Jones won: Moore missed Trump’s standard in every Alabama county

Democrat Doug Jones pulled off a nail-biting win in Alabama’s Senate special election, skating by with 50 percent of the vote to Roy Moore’s 48. That represents a monumental victory for the Democrats in a deep-red state where Hillary Clinton lost to Donald Trump by 28 points.

Jones’s win comes thanks to a significant, nearly uniform surge of Democratic votes statewide. But he also owes the victory in large part to Moore’s unpopularity — the Republican seriously underperformed in statewide elections even before he faced accusations of sexual assault and misconduct against teenage girls.

Lost

(voted more

democratic)

Gained

(voted more

republican)

In percentage

points

-15

-10

-5

Flipped county

Each dot represents

500 people

Comparing Moore in 2012

to Moore in 2017

In 2012, Moore won a state Supreme Court seat. In 2017 he outperformed his margins in 32 counties, but in 35 others he did worse.

Huntsville

Decatur

NORTH AND

CENTRAL

Gadsden

Birmingham

Tuscaloosa

Auburn

Selma

Montgomery

BLACK BELT

SOUTH

Dothan

Mobile

Comparing Trump in 2016

to Moore in 2017

Every single county swung left compared to 2016, with some moving more than 15 points. Moore lost 12 counties that Trump won.

Huntsville

Decatur

NORTH AND CENTRAL

Gadsden

Birmingham

Tuscaloosa

Auburn

Selma

Montgomery

BLACK BELT

SOUTH

Dothan

Mobile

Gained

(voted more republican)

Each dot represents

500 people

Lost

(voted more democratic)

In percentage

points

Flipped county

-15

-10

-5

Comparing Moore in 2012

to Moore in 2017

Comparing Trump in 2016

to Moore in 2017

In 2012, Moore won a state Supreme Court seat. In 2017 he outperformed his margins in 32 counties, but in 35 others he did worse.

Every single county swung left compared to 2016, with some moving more than 15 points. Moore lost 12 counties that Trump won.

Moore lost support in the ring of mostly white counties east of Birmingham.

Huntsville

NORTH AND

CENTRAL

NORTH AND

CENTRAL

Birmingham

Tuscaloosa

Selma

Montgomery

BLACK BELT

SOUTH

Moore’s vote share increased in the mostly rural white region.

The Black Belt had strong turnout and support for Jones, who won a bigger margin there than Clinton did last year.

Mobile

Sources: Decision Desk HQ, U.S. Census Bureau

More Alabama visual analysis

Exit polls show gender, racial divides

African Americans make up about 3 in 10 Alabama voters so far on Election Day according to preliminary exit polls, a hair higher than the 28 percent of the electorate in 2012 presidential election and 29 percent in 2008, the two most recent elections where state exit polling is available — and first African American president Barack Obama was running in both elections.

Sex by race

Jones (D)

Write-in

Moore (R)

White men 35% of voters

26%

72%

White women 31% of voters

34%

63%

Black men 11% of voters

93%

Black women 17% of voters

98%

Race

Jones (D)

Write-in

Moore (R)

White 66% of voters

30%

68%

Black 29% of voters

96%

NET Nonwhite 34% of voters

88%

11%

More exit poll results

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Alabama Senate election results

Live results

What’s happening in Alabama

Why Jones won: Moore missed Trump’s standard in every Alabama county

Exit polls show gender, racial divides

Sex by race

Sex by race

Sex by race

Sex by race

Race

Race

Race