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Joe Biden endorses Doug Jones at kickoff of Senate campaign

Brian Lyman
Montgomery Advertiser

BIRMINGHAM — Doug Jones’ campaign for U.S. Senate kicked off Tuesday with former Vice President Joe Biden praising the Democratic nominee’s background, particularly his efforts prosecuting and convicting two men for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham.

“Doug helped remove 40 years of stain and pain from this state,” Biden said to 1,100 people in the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. “The state has changed. Doug said ‘no more.’ The Klan needed to know justice would follow them to the gates of Hell if need be.”

Biden’s appearance gave a high-profile kickoff to Jones’ effort to become the first Alabama Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate in 25 years. Jones and other speakers cited his background as the son of a steelworker, and his efforts as a U.S. Attorney in Birmingham from 1997 to 2001.

Jones outlined a platform focused on making health insurance more affordable, protecting Medicare and Medicaid and expanding economic opportunities in the state. 

“I have fought for civil rights, I have fought for women’s rights,” Jones told the crowd. “I have done everything I can to fight for equality for every person in the state of Alabama.”

The crowd in Jones’ hometown was enthusiastic – lines to get into the BJCC extended around the block – but Jones will face a difficult path against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, his Republican opponent.

No Democrat has won a statewide election since 2008, and no Democrat has won a U.S. Senate election in the state since 1992. The Moore campaign wants to tie Jones to the national Democratic Party, and sent out an email Tuesday highlighting Jones’ support for the Affordable Care Act and abortion rights and opposition to Trump’s proposal to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Doug Jones has been trying to fool Alabama voters into thinking that he is really one of them, but he has shown his true colors by bringing in President Obama’s Vice President to campaign for him and raise money for his campaign,” Moore campaign chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement. “Jones’ embrace of Joe Biden reveals his true colors as a support of the Obama-era policies that have put the long-term safety and security of America at risk.”

Moore can also count on a loyal base of voters who carried him to a decisive victory in the Sept. 26 runoff, boosting turnout in his strongholds even as it fell statewide.

But Democrats think they see an opening with Jones and his time as U.S. Attorney. Allusions to his prosecutions of Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry in 2001 and 2002 led to the loudest cheers from the crowd Tuesday.

“I have a biracial daughter, and it’s personally meaningful to me,” said Alice Mazanec, a retired nurse who lives in Birmingham. “It touches me in a very strong way.”

Ursula Smith, a retired educator who came from Huntsville to see the rally, said she thought Jones would be a consensus builder if he went to the Senate.

“He’s already exhibited an independent mind by going after the people who bombed the church,” she said.

Moore remains a polarizing figure in the Alabama GOP. He only narrowly won the 2012 race for chief justice, losing traditional Republican areas like Mobile and Madison counties. Biden and Jones both made allusions to Moore’s opposition to homosexuality and beliefs about religion in the marketplace.

“We don’t need another extremist in the Senate,” Biden said.

Jones also alluded to Moore’s two removals from the Alabama Supreme Court; first for refusing to take out a Ten Commandments monuments in 2003, and then in 2016 after telling probate judges to not issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Joe Biden, former Vice President, looks on at a campaign rally for Democratic candidate for Senate Doug Jones on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, in Birmingham, Ala.

“I want to make sure when I’m elected, I carry out my term,” Jones said. “You do that by following your oath of office. . .  you do that by following the rule of law.”

Moore wasn’t far from anyone’s mind at the Jones rally Tuesday, with many like Mazanec saying that Jones would “represent Alabama in a positive way.”

“Moore is – forget it,” said Darcy Mitchell, a vocational rehabilitation specialist from Birmingham to chiefly see Biden. “(Jones) – he’s everything my values are.”

Democrats have generally done well in special elections nationwide this year, and early polls have shown Jones within six to eight points of Moore. Jones’ challenge is to capitalize on Democratic enthusiasm by driving out the cities and the Black Belt, while trying to appeal to Republicans who don’t want to vote for Moore.

"When (Jones) wins this race, it will send ripples through this country," Biden said. "Don't do it for that reason. Do it for Alabama."

David Russell, a lobbyist and member of the State Democratic Executive Committee, said he wanted to see Jones emphasize health care and economic issues.

“He should concentrate on the youth vote,” Russell said. “If I was him I would target the youth, because they’re going to vote Democratic.”

Jones also alluded the difficulties he may face.

“They have told me time and again that this race is a long shot,” he said. “It’s not the first time I’ve heard something I want to do and something I feel passionate about is a long shot . . . when you’re on the right side of history and the right side of justice, you can do anything.”