Doug Jones says Georgia outcome shows ‘incredible opportunities’ for candidates in the South, Thanks supporters despite election loss

Although incumbent U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) came up short in his reelection bid earlier this month against Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville, he has an optimistic outlook when it comes to Democrats in the South, especially given what could be a win for the Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden when the final vote is tallied.

During an appearance on MSNBC’s “PoliticsNation” on Sunday, Jones credited the rise of so-called kitchen-table issues in an interview with Al Sharpton.

“Look, I think that there are opportunities throughout the South,” he said. “I’ve said all along that I believe that there are amazing opportunities in the South despite the losses. I mean, this is — we’ve got to play this for the long haul.”

“And that’s what’s happened in Georgia,” Jones continued. “If you look back, a lot of people think that this all started coming up, bubbling up in 2018 with Stacey’s race. But Stacey Abrams will tell you this has been a decade-long project in Georgia, working at the grassroots level, talking to voters about the issues that affect them every day, they’re kitchen-table issues. This is not about right or left. This is not about so many things other than those kitchen-table issues health care, jobs, the economy, COVID, the way things are now. So I think there are incredible opportunities with the kitchen table issues. But make no mistake, we are such a divided country right now, and so many of those divisions started in the South. I’ve said this for many years, that healing can start in the South, and I think that’s what you’re seeing in Georgia and other places right now where the base of voters are beginning to look at things in a whole different way.”

The outgoing U.S. Senator also talked about racial healing in the South. He thanked his supporters despite the loss but said there was change underway, which he noted seemed to be “a little faster” in Georgia than Alabama.

“What you’ve seen — and it’s not just in politics,” he said. “What you saw all these years, that you saw the University of Alabama football team and Auburn University football teams joining together to bring this to everyone’s attention. Those are game-changing kind of events in places in the South and in Alabama. And in my race, it was a difficult loss. And, by the way, I want to thank you and all of your viewers out there who have helped me over the 2017 race and this one. The support has been amazing. But the fact is we grew the Democratic Party base.”

“We grew that base of voters larger than it’s ever been before, and it’s very solid,” Jones added. “It’s strong because we believe in progress. We believe in that racial reconciliation, racial healing. We want to make sure that everyone has an equal opportunity. And that’s what you’re seeing changing. It’s seeing — I think it’s changing a little faster in Georgia than it is obviously in Alabama and other places. But it’s changing. There’s a lot to work on. That’s when I go back to the healing that started in the South — I mean, the divisions that started in the South, the healing can start that now too, and that’s where people are, so, so many people in the state in this country.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.