U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) on Monday night held a “Drive-In the Vote” event for his 2020 reelection campaign in Leeds, Alabama.
Jones was joined by current and former Democratic elected officials from various locales in the Yellowhammer State, as well as prominent national Democrats. This included U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016.
Alabama’s junior senator also featured the support of U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the current ranking member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations. Jones and Senate Democrats are currently trying to retake the Senate in November, which would unseat U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) as chair of that powerful committee, replacing the Alabama statesman with Leahy.
Almost all of the special guests appeared at the event remotely via pre-recorded video messages. Jones, family members, Alabama Democratic Party Chairman Chris England and an Alabama AFL-CIO official appeared at separate times on stage at the drive-in. Attendees were required to stay in their cars the entire time, and masks were also required to be worn by everyone in each car to gain entry to the grounds in the first place.
In one of the more bizarre moments of the event, Jones complained about Tommy Tuberville allegedly saying Tuberville’s father fought socialism in World War II, with Jones going out of his way to try and separate Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini by name from socialism.
“It’s time that Tommy Tuberville and his crew got on the right side of history rather than on the wrong side of history in Alabama,” Jones then said.
“There’s not an evil person in this state who supports this campaign,” Jones commented of his own reelection bid.
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Of course, the most notable Democrat to virtually address the event was former Vice President Joe Biden, the 2020 Democratic presidential nominee.
Jones was an early endorser of Biden’s presidential bid this cycle, and the senator from Mountain Brook reminisced to the crowd about how much Biden helped him in 2017, when Jones ultimately won a December special election for his current seat. Back in that previous cycle, Jones told the crowd, Biden had encouraged him to run.
“Joe said something to me that I’ll never forget. … At that point in 2017, Donald Trump had only been in office a few months. … So, Joe and I talked about the hope, we talked about the future, we talked about where Alabama has been and where we could go. And I’ll never forget this conversation at home, it’s late one night — because he likes to call me late. And he said, ‘Doug, you have got an opportunity. … You have an opportunity with your background, with your history, with your compassion, with trying to help people. You’ve got an opportunity to redeem the soul of Alabama,'” Jones remarked.
“What I didn’t know when Joe Biden said that to me was that two years later, we’d be talking about not just redeeming the soul of Alabama, but we’ve got to redeem the soul of America,” the senator added. “We’ve got to redeem the soul of America.”
He subsequently highlighted that Biden escorted him to the Senate floor to be sworn in as a senator in January 2018. As reported at the time, this was considered a significant snub of Senator Shelby, as it is customary for each state’s senior senator to welcome a new arrival into the upper chamber.
Jones on Monday night also shared that he has thought Biden would make a “great” president since he met him in 1977.
Biden’s video message was played after that introduction from Jones, with the remote remarks apparently recorded from Biden’s Delaware home.
‘The very soul of America is at stake,” Biden emphasized, echoing Jones’ message. “That’s why I’m running for president.”
He cautioned, “We have to do more than just beat Trump. We have to keep the House of Representatives and the United States Senate.”
For clarification, Democrats do not currently have control of the U.S. Senate.
Nevertheless, Biden added, “The stakes of this election have never been higher for our country.”
The former vice president said Democrats were fighting a “battle for the soul of this country.”
After Biden’s clip, Jones spoke again, stressing how excited he was recently to virtually address the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
A few minutes later, Jones claimed he and his wife became “the most nationally celebrated Democrats since Barack and Michelle [Obama]” when Jones was elected in December 2017.
In his remarks, he also said he proudly stood by his record in the U.S. Senate, which includes twice voting to remove Trump from office, voting against the confirmation of Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, twice voting against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and voting against banning the use of federal tax dollars for abortions.
Jones concluded with an optimistic call to action for his supporters.
“[F]olks, Alabama is going to look forward,” the senator advised. “We’re going to continue this march forward. We’re not going to be looking back. We’re not going to let them bring us down. We’re moving forward.”
Watch the entire event below:
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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