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Opinion: Doug Jones' Three Year Term Ends - Report Card

Doug Jones has completed his term as U.S. Senator after losing to newcomer Senator Tommy Tuberville. In 2017, Doug Jones beat controversial Republican candidate Roy Moore, completing the term vacated by Jeff Sessions when he became U.S. Attorney General.


Doug Jones voted against the nominations of both Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, despite both being supported by the majority of Alabamians.

The question that first has to be asked is: should elected officials vote the way a majority of their constituents want them to vote; or should they use their personal judgement and make tough choices based on their personal value system and principals? Alabama Free Press (AFP) thinks the latter is appropriate for Presidents, Governors and Mayors, as the nature of those roles is to make tough decisions. For a U.S. Senator, it is completely illogical to suggest that representatives of the people should ignore "We the People". In this regard, Doug Jones failed in a big way. On multiple occasions he turned his back on the what the majority of the people in the state of Alabama wanted him to do. These votes included voting against both popular Supreme Court nominees as well as voting to impeach President Donald Trump.


Doug Jones also voted against several Presidential nominees including Eugene Scalia, son of the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, for Secretary of Labor. His voting record landed him a 75% Rating from the Planned Parenthood Advocacy Fund for his votes on abortion and a 84% rating from the Human Rights Campaign for this "LGBTQ" votes. None of those votes aligned with the majority of his constituents and he knew that when he voted.


Does Anything Else Matter?


There were times when Doug Jones' votes aligned with his constituents. Right after taking office, he voted with Republicans on a spending bill that helped prevent a government shutdown. A couple of months later he joined fifteen other Democrats in voting on a bill to deregulate community banks. In March of 2020, he was the only democrat to vote for the Republican Coronavirus bill.


But, Alabama Free Press views that these and similar votes just kept Doug Jones from getting a failing grade. The heart of representation is doing the will of the people. In that regard, Doug Jones performed poorly.



AFP GRADE: D


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