WASHINGTON -- Arkansas Republicans say Tuesday's election of an Alabama Democrat to the U.S. Senate is an aberration. Arkansas Democrats say it shows their party can win in the Natural State and throughout the South.
Republicans emphasized the weaknesses of their nominee, Roy Moore, a former state Supreme Court chief justice accused recently of molesting a 14-year-old girl decades ago.
Democrats said the victory of former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones, the first Alabama Democrat to win a Senate race in more than a quarter-century, could be a harbinger of things to come.
"It's encouraging. We're excited about it. It shows that with good candidates and good hard work, good things happen," said Michael John Gray, chairman of the Democratic Party of Arkansas and a representative from Augusta.
Gray credited Jones' supporters with getting Democrats to the polls.
"Turnout really matters and when you run a quality candidate and do the work to get people out to vote, then the opportunities to win are definitely there," he added.
Republicans, including U.S. Rep. French Hill, downplayed the significance of Tuesday's vote.
"I don't think that the election of Jones in the Alabama Senate race will be much of a bellwether for the 2018 elections in Arkansas or elsewhere. I believe Mr. Moore was a flawed candidate and I think the people of Alabama rejected his candidacy," the Republican from Little Rock said.
U.S. Rep. Bruce Westerman also placed the blame for Tuesday's loss on Moore.
"I think it's all about the candidate," the Republican from Hot Springs said.
Moore grabbed the Republican nomination by defeating U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks and U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, who was appointed to fill the seat vacated when Jeff Sessions became U.S. attorney general.
Either Brooks or Strange would have fared better at the polls Tuesday, Westerman said.
"I think it would've been a blowout," he said. "I don't even think it would've been hardly a news story had you had either of them on the ballot."
Gray, on the other hand, says the Republicans are downplaying Jones' accomplishment.
"Yes, they had a flawed candidate, but we presented a better candidate that gave them something to vote for," he said. "Good policy and good candidates and solutions and innovations are how you break through."
Hal Bass, a political science professor at Ouachita Baptist University, said Democrats are likely to gain seats in 2018 if history is any indicator.
"Midterm elections tend to favor the party that doesn't hold the presidency," he noted.
But it's hard to use a 2017 special election in Alabama to predict the outcome of next year's elections in Arkansas or anywhere else, he said.
"Special elections are a different breed of animal, much harder to generalize about than normal general elections," he said.
Democrats, who lost special election races in several heavily Republican districts earlier this year, nonetheless were more competitive than in past elections, Bass noted.
That may make it easier for Democrats to find credible challengers for the 2018 elections, he said.
"[There] appears to be some real enthusiasm and commitment on the Democratic side right now. The challenge for the Republicans is to somehow counter it," he said.
RELATED ARTICLES
http://www.arkansas…">Alabama loss relief and worry for GOP
A Section on 12/14/2017