Why Doug Jones thinks Alabama’s Democratic voters are ‘energized’ this year

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• Judy Woodruff:

  If Joe Biden wins on November 3, it would be far easier for him to get his legislative agenda passed if his party controls both chambers of Congress. At the moment, Democrats are favored to keep the House, but taking over the Senate is another matter. Democrats need to pick up three more seats, while holding on to the ones they currently have, if Biden wins, and four if President Trump is reelected.

  The Democrat who's seen as most vulnerable of all the senators up for reelection is Doug Jones of Alabama. And he joins us now from Birmingham.

  Senator, it's good to see you. Thank you for talking with us.

  You must be getting tired of that description, the most endangered Democrat up for reelection?

• Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala.:

  You know, Judy, I have heard it for three years now. I heard it when I was running in 2017. So it just kind of rolls off.

  We have been running hard, and we feel very good about where we are. I will let — I have told folks all along, I will let pundits say what they want to all the way up to the point that I give my victory speech on November the 3rd.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Well, there's a lot to ask you about your race, but one thing I do want to specifically ask you about is the African-American vote.

  It was one of the critical elements to your winning that special election against Roy Moore in 2017. African-Americans make up, what, about more than a quarter of the population in the state of Alabama. But that's harder to duplicate in a general election, when you have got a much bigger turnout, is it not?

• Sen. Doug Jones:

  It is harder to duplicate.

  I think, historically, you know, the African-American turnout has been about what our registered voter percentage is. We were able to do better in our 2017 race. It was higher in Barack Obama's race, though. And I think we have got the energy and enthusiasm this year that it's going to be significant.

  Even though there are concerns about the pandemic and the health care crisis, I feel something out there. I see something in talking to people. Folks are very energized. And, quite frankly, the addition of Kamala Harris on the ticket, I think, is boosting that significantly.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Well, I want to — well, let me ask you about that.

  What is the reaction you're hearing from folks in Alabama to her choice?

• Sen. Doug Jones:

  One, people are very excited.

  I mean, from Mobile, Alabama, in the south, to Huntsville, Alabama, in the north and east and west, people are very excited about Kamala being on this ticket. They were excited when my old friend Joe Biden announced that he was going to pick a woman. That was number one. That was — that got the excitement starting to build.

  But Kamala — out of all the great potential candidates that Joe had to choose from, Kamala always seemed to be at the top of the list. She's been in Alabama a lot. She's been down here with the late John Lewis and me walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. She came in here in March for me and did an event with my wife at one of our great historically black colleges and universities, Miles College.

  So, there — she's known her. I mean, you have heard Jim Clyburn talk about Joe Biden, saying, Joe Biden – we know Joe Biden, and Joe knows us.

  Well, that's the way Kamala is in Alabama. People know her. She knows the folks here in Alabama. There is a tremendous amount of excitement here.

• Judy Woodruff:

  I want to ask you about the convention.

  You — Southern Democrats have often stayed away from national Democratic Party conventions. But you were front and center at this convention Monday night. Why is that?

• Sen. Doug Jones:

  Well, I think Democrats have stayed away. And I think that's been a big mistake over the last 20 or 30 years. Democrats haven't participated.

  And so they haven't had as much a voice in either the convention or in national policies. We have changed that. You have got Joe Manchin in West Virginia. You have got others. We have got two great governors in Kentucky and Louisiana.

  And so I think the demographics of the South are changing. New — a new generation of citizens and engagement in the South is changing the way we look at things and people are looking at our kitchen table issues.

  And so the only way to make those changes fulfilled is to get engage and to stay engaged, because there's nothing to be ashamed about. We have a great party. You look — think about this convention of the various voices across America, the diversity of voices. That's Alabama. That's Georgia. That's Mississippi. It's Tennessee.

  We have just got to have the voices standing up, speaking out, and making sure that the people in our respective states understand who we are, where we come from, and that we have got their backs.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And do we hear Republicans going after progressives in the party, calling it the socialist convention and so forth.

  But I want to ask you about…

  (LAUGHTER)

  You have known Joe Biden.

  I think you said — I saw you met him in 1978, when he came to speak at law school that you were a student at back then. Is the Joe Biden you know coming across in this convention and in this campaign? Because it's such an unusual campaign.

• Sen. Doug Jones:

  Yes. No, I think it is.

  But let me say this. Joe Biden is no socialist, OK? Kamala Harris is no socialist. And Doug Jones is no socialist. You can try to pin labels. And that's what gives us an advantage.

  You're not going to be able to pin those labels and have them stick.

  Judy, I won an award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce this year. That is no socialist organization. So, what you're seeing in this convention is a reflection, I think, of Joe, who he is, what he is, his record over the last 40 years or more, I guess, now, an amazing public servant, someone who listens to people.

  And that's what I stress most. Joe doesn't just talk to people and have conversations. He listens to people. He's empathetic with them, and he can translate that into policies that lift all boats in America for everyone, no matter where you are, no matter which zip code that you live in, no matter what your walk of life is.

  And that's, I think, coming across loud and clear in this convention, despite the fact that it's all virtual. It's, to some extent, playing to the advantage, I think, of Joe Biden, because we're seeing all 50 states and we're seeing such a diversity of America. And that's our strength right now.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Well, some of the voices folks are hearing are people like Bernie Sanders, who is a Democratic socialist, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

  There's conversation about the fact she only had a minute or so to speak nominating Senator Sanders. But there is a diversity. And is the left of the party an issue and a problem for candidates like you?

• Sen. Doug Jones:

  Oh, well, look, the left of the party is always an issue. They try to make it an issue.

  The fact of the matter is, people just push that aside. Look, we have got voices on the left. But, you know, look what happened in Georgia just recently — I think it was Georgia — where a QAnon conspiracy theorist won the Republican nomination to go to Congress, and President Trump tweeted out that she's one of the rising stars.

  So, I don't think people should be criticizing the voices on the left of the Democratic Party, voices who need to be heard, voices that are important out there for all of us going forward, if they're not going to criticize the racist comments from folks like the lady who won the primary in Georgia the other day and this QAnon conspiracy theorist that President Trump tweeted out is a rising star.

  So, we are going to have those voices on both sides in both parties. But I think the fact that the diversity of the Democratic Party is so reflective of America, it's more reflective of Alabama than people understand and can appreciate, that's why the strength of this party and the strength of this ticket, I think, is going to carry us forward to victory in November.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, up for reelection this November.

  Thank you so much, Senator.

• Sen. Doug Jones:

  Thank you, Judy. It's great to be with you.

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