For McConnell, Alabama Senate Loss Is Bad News and Good News
New York Times
December 13, 2017
WASHINGTON -- Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, was not on a talking mood on Wednesday as he sped through the corridors of the Capital.
It had been roughly 12 hours since Doug Jones, a Democrat, had won election to the Senate -
- a victory that for McConnell spelled both bad news and good news.
"It was quite an impressive election," Mr. McConnell, of Kentucky, said tersely.
"It was a big turnout, and an unusual day."
The election of Mr. Jones - the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama in 25 years -
- will have significant consequences on the national level, making it more difficult for Republicans to enact their legislative agenda and opening, for the first time, a possible - if narrow - path to a Democratic majority in the Senate in 2018.
For Mr. McConnell, it has very immediate consequences: It reduces his already razor-thin majority in the Senate to 51 from 52 votes.
But it also relieves Mr. McConnell of a huge problem: having to deal with Roy S. Moore, the unpredictable Alabama Republican nominee whose candidacy was tarred by allegations that he molested a 14-year-old girl and made sexual advances toward other teenagers.
More:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/13/us/politics/democrats-mcconnell-jones-tax-vote-delay.html
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