Doug Jones Is Back — Can Alabama Change?

In political news, Doug Jones tries again in Alabama. Former Democratic Senator Doug Jones has launched a campaign for governor of Alabama arguing the state needs competition, accountability and leadership focused on health care, education and economic pressure on families. According to the Associated Press, Jones kicked off his campaign in Birmingham on the eighth anniversary of his 2017 campaign Senate victory. That win made Jones the last Democrat to hold statewide office in Alabama after voters rejected Republican Roy Moore amid multiple allegations involving teenage girls. Jones told supporters that Alabama had shown before it can do better and that voters deserve a real choice rather than one party rule. Jones enters the race as a clear underdog. Well, that's an understatement. Republicans have dominated statewide election for decades. Decades. And Senator Tommy Tuberville, who defeated Jones by a wide margin in 2020, is also running for governor. Still, Jones says the race is about forcing accountability and reminding voters what happens when standards collapse. Okay, what's the real message here? Doug Jones, the former Democratic senator from Alabama, is running for, for governor of Alabama as a Democrat. Now, that usually doesn't end too well. Doug Jones best hope is whoever gets the Republican nomination gets caught with little girls again like happened last time Doug Moore won election in Alabama. Let's dig a little deeper here. Now, you may think I'm being gratuitous or I'm somehow exaggerating or I'm somehow passing along rumors. Well, no, there was numerous, numerous on the record documentation that Judge Roy Moore, who was the Senate nominee, the Republican nominee, was routinely going after young girls and sexually harassing them, going on dates with teenage girls, some as young as 14. And this became the big issue eight years ago. Now, many people have forgotten it. It's been a long time. But this was, you know, before the days of Epstein and this seemed really common. But this was the guy who was the big holier than thou, the, the judge who demanded that everyone post the ten commandments on courthouses and schools. He was running for the Senate based on his belief in traditional moral values. And Doug Jones beat him in part because of all the revelations about this guy, Roy Moore with little girls. Creepy, disgusting, well documented. Numerous, numerous girls came out of the woodwork to say, yeah, he like followed me home from school and really weird stuff like that. Interestingly, the vast, vast majority of white Republicans in Alabama still voted for said, you know what, yeah, maybe you were a guy, middle aged, mid-30s, trying to date 14 year old girls. I'm still going to vote for you. Still better than any Democrat. So now folks, I've lived in Alabama and I've worked Politically, in Alabama, that was a long time ago. It was a 40, 40 years ago. But it's a tough place for any Democrat to win office. Here's the real significance here. It's not that I am predicting Doug Jones, the former Democratic senator, is going to win the governorship in Alabama. I'm not predicting that. I do think it's a sign, though, that more and more Democrats are thinking maybe, just maybe, the earth is shifting. Maybe enough people are thinking we've gone too deep into this MAGA reality. Maybe it's time to question a number of assumptions we've held sacrosanct. You're seeing it with the Marjorie Taylor Greene's of the world. You're seeing it with other House members filing these, these petitions, forcing votes on a variety of issues. You're seeing more people willing to stand up to Trump from his own party. You're seeing it in the Indiana state legislature where Republicans said, nope, we're not going to do the bidding of this president and trash our congressional districts in the middle of a decade. More and more people are sensing that maybe behind the curtain, the almighty Oz isn't so almighty. Now you can ask, how does that really relate to Alabama? It's not that Donald Trump is there in Alabama getting involved in every campaign and every decision every day. No, that's not it. But he does create a general cultural vibe that filters down to a place like Alabama. And I think if this were even three months ago, six months ago, someone like Doug Jones would say, I got better things to do. I can go off and make money as a lawyer. He was a very successful lawyer. In fact, part of his background is he prosecuted Klansmen who blew up a church and killed little girls. And. But in Alabama, that's the kind of thing to get you labeled a liberal. Oh, you're against the Klan. Well, you're maybe too liberal for us. So that doesn't necessarily help in a place like Alabama. Okay. And if you think I'm wrong, let me know. Give your argument. I look at all comments to this video and every other video. Now, the, the presumed frontrunner for the Republican nomination for governor of Alabama is the current US Senator, Tommy Tuberville. He is someone by every stretch of the imagination, whether you are a liberal, a Democrat, a conservative, a centrist, a mainstream Republican has done nothing but essentially embarrass himself. I do not have the time today to go through all the statements he's made that are just completely idiotic. Regardless of your ideology as a US Senator, by all accounts, that's not going to hurt him one iota when he runs for governor of Alabama because he was an extraordinarily popular football coach. And I can tell you, even though it's been 40 years since I lived in that state, people, they love their football coaches in Alabama. Oh, boy, do they love their football coaches in Alabama. I lived there back when Bear Bryant was still in charge of things and he could do no wrong. He could drive home drunk and fall asleep at the wheel and just pull into a ditch and take a nap. He didn't have to worry about getting a DUI or a ticket. He would get a nice police escort home because he was seen as a saint, someone beyond reproach. Now, Tommy Tuberville isn't necessarily seen in the same level of esteem of Bear Bryant, but he's still a popular football coach that got him elected to the US Senate without a single shred of evidence that he knew or cared anything about public policy. But hey, he had high name ID and people that loves them some football in Alabama. So I would still, if I were a betting man, and I don't bet on things like this or in general, I would still have to bet on Tommy Tuberville. But the other significance of this is, politically, it's at least showing the Democrats are not rolling over and playing dead. It is showing we're going to have serious candidates. They're going to be funded. Doug Jones, as a former U.S. senator, will receive serious funding. It means the Republicans are going to have to spend money on this. They can't just roll right in. It won't be a simple cakewalk. And when you look at an item like this, plus the fact that the recent Senate congressional race that was open, where Donald Trump carried that district by 22%, or the Republican who won last time won it by 22% and now won it only by 9%. With the most recent Democrat running in the special election, it's a sign of the earth changing. The political landscape is changing. Now, it's normal for anytime someone is controlling the White House for their party to lose the next election. It doesn't typically cycle down to governorships. But I am sensing a changed political environment. Am I predicting the Democrats will take control of the US Senate in 2026? No, I'm not. So if you're looking for someone who just gives partisan spin, who only says things that make a party they like, look, you're going to have to look elsewhere. As a reminder, here on Filtered with TJ Walker, I'm giving you sane, sensible centrist analysis of what's going on in the news. The messages and the messengers, that's what we're about.