ELECTIONS

How Doug Jones could pull off a stunner in Alabama

The Democrat has a real shot at becoming the first Democratic senator from the state in decades. Here's his path.

By GABRIEL DEBENEDETTI and DANIEL STRAUSS 11/16/2017 05:06 AM EST

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The first and most vital task for Doug Jones to pull off a once-unthinkable upset in Alabama: Get Republican voters comfortable with the idea that it’s OK to pull the lever for this Democrat, if the alternative is scandal-wracked Roy Moore.

“I’m a Republican, but Roy Moore? No way,” one man says in Jones’ latest ad, released Tuesday. “I’m a lifelong Republican, but I just can’t do it,” another concurs. The word “Democrat” is not uttered once.

Nearly unthinkable even a week ago, the prospect of Jones becoming the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama in a quarter century has suddenly become very real. Jones remains an underdog in a state that chose Donald Trump by a 28-point margin in the presidential election, and where Democrats make up just over a third of the electorate, according to polling.

But he does have a path. Here's how it looks, according to interviews with nearly a dozen Democrats within and near Jones' team since Moore was hit with accusations of pursuing — and in two cases abusing — teenage girls. First, create a permission structure for alienated Republicans who are skeptical of Moore — primarily those who voted against him in the GOP primary — to cross the aisle. At the same time invigorate the base, especially African-Americans, who make up over a quarter of registered voters, according to the Alabama Secretary of State's office. And finally, keep the national Democratic Party and its despised brand as far out of the picture as possible, while still benefiting from its money.