Democrat Doug Jones Raises $1.3 Million In Alabama Senate Race

Alabama Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones raised $1.3 million between July and September, an impressive amount for the former U.S. attorney who has so far attracted relatively little support from the national party. 

Jones now has $1 million cash on hand, according to the third-quarter total that was provided to HuffPost. 

“These fundraising numbers are the latest proof that our campaign is continuing to gain incredible momentum with grassroots support from throughout the state of Alabama,” said Sebastian Kitchen, communications director for the Jones campaign. “Alabamians know that Doug cares about kitchen table issues that are important to them and know he will stand up for hardworking families in the Senate.”

More than 22,000 people have donated to the campaign since Jones jumped into the race in May , and more than 3,500 people have signed up to volunteer. 

As a U.S. attorney in 2002, Jones was the lead prosecutor in the case against two of the men responsible for the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama.

He’s running against Republican Roy Moore in the Dec. 12 special election to replace Jeff Sessions, who vacated the seat when he became President Donald Trump ’s attorney general. Moore defeated Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), who had the backing of the GOP establishment including Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). 

It was a bruising primary, and the Senate Leadership Fund a super PAC that is backed by McConnell has said it currently has no plans to step in  to help Moore defeat Jones. 

On the Democratic side, Jones has so far not received any financial backing from the Democratic National Committee or the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, although the groups have sent out fundraising appeals on his behalf.

He is attracting attention, though  partly because of his compelling biography, but also because he is running against Moore. The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ rights organization, recently endorsed Jones . Former Vice President Joe Biden also went to Alabama and held a rally for him.

There are concerns about whether Jones actually has a shot at beating Moore in the red state and whether national support will help or hurt him amongst voters who may be looking for someone without strong establishment ties. 

As chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Moore told state probate judges to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court ’s ruling declaring marriage equality the law of the land. He recently referred to people of color as “reds and yellows ,” and once said Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not be able to serve  in Congress because he’s Muslim. 

Moore’s campaign did not return a request for comment on his fundraising numbers.

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