Doug Jones is the first Democratic senator Alabama has elected since 1992. His surprising victory continues a trend we've seen in other elections this year — Democratic voters are turning out in significant numbers and independent voters are leaning more toward Democrats. Axios' Alexi McCammond breaks down why that should worry Republicans heading into 2018:
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), the longest-serving woman in the House, said Wednesday that some congresswomen and staffers dress so inappropriately that their clothing is "an invitation" to sexual harassment, sources told Politico:
"I saw a member yesterday with her cleavage so deep it was down to the floor,” Kaptur said during a private Democratic Caucus meeting on sexual harassment in Congress. “And what I’ve seen … it's really an invitation.”
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said at a meeting of Muslim countries in Istanbul on Wednesday that it's "out of the question for a biased United States to be a mediator between Israel and Palestine," according to Reuters.
Why it matters: In a statement on the Turkish Foreign Ministry website, Reuters reports, the leaders labeled Trump's decision "as an announcement of the U.S. Administration's withdrawal from its role as sponsor of peace." Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called it "the greatest crime," per Reuters, and that the U.S. could not longer be trusted to play a part in negotiations due to suspected bias in Israel's favor.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) announced on the House floor Wednesday that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Brooks said he will get surgery on Friday and plans to recover over the holidays.
Earlier this year, Brooks lost the GOP Senate primary in Alabama, coming in third after Luther Strange and Roy Moore. Brooks said that loss may have saved his life. "Had I won... I would not have had a prostate biopsy. I would not now know about my 'high risk' prostate cancer that requires immediate surgery."
Only 32% of voters approve of President Trump's job in office and more than half disapprove, according to the latest poll by Monmouth University. This is the lowest popularity score and the highest disapproval score since Trump took office.
Behind the numbers: Women's approval of the President dropped 12 points while disapproval rose 13 points since September, with even Republican women's approval dropping 9 points. The sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein went public in early October, setting off a series of high-profile accusations of sexual misconduct and the #MeToo movement.
Republican lawmakers have come to an agreement over the tax overhaul package they plan to send to Trump next week, according to two GOP sources familiar with the negotiations. This comes just in time for Trump's speech later today where he will argue on behalf of changing the tax code.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in a speech and Q&A with State Department employees, says a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem is at least three years away — unlikely before 2020, "and that's pretty ambitious," per N.Y. Times.
N.Y. Times Quote of the Day ... Tillerson, speaking to State Department employees: "I didn't know anything about your culture, didn't know what motivates you, didn't know anything about your work, didn't know anything about how you get your work done."
Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton will announce Wednesday that he is appointing Lt. Gov. Tina Smith to fill Sen. Al Franken's seat until the November 2018 midterm elections, Democratic sources told AP. Smith plans to officially run for the seat in 2018 as well. The announcement is scheduled for 10 a.m.
Why it's not surprising: Smith, who served as Dayton's chief of staff prior to becoming his running mate in 2014, was the likely frontrunner after Sen. Franken resigned last week over allegations of sexual misconduct.
On Wednesday, President Trump makes his closing arguments on the Republican tax plan. Congress wants to put a finished bill on his desk by Dec. 20, but there's still a lot of differences for the House and Senate to sort out. Axios' Alayna Treene explains:
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand told he Today Show's Savannah Guthrie that she thinks Trump's tweet about her "was certainly just a sexist smear intended to silence me...The President's trying to certainly silence my voice on this issue of these allegations against him."
Bottom line: "I'm not going to be silenced on this issue," Gillibrand said.
Bloomberg reporter Kevin Cirilli talks to Steve Bannon's circle this morning after his pick in Alabama goes down to defeat:
Source close to Bannon re: #AlSen: "This doesn't stop Steve's war against the establishment, all it does is pour gasoline on top of it."— Kevin Cirilli (@kevcirilli) December 13, 2017
Why it matters: Bannon went against President Trump and Senate Republicans in backing Roy Moore, the first Republican to lose a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in more than 20 years. More Bannon-backed candidates could be further headaches for the GOP.
One savvy Axios colleague didn't believe the polls out of Alabama (final Real Clear Politics average: Moore +2.2). Her reasoning: "Women don't want their husbands to know that they're voting for Jones."
She was right. Jones won women by 16 points, per WashPost. That's despite the fact that Moore won white women by 29 points. Final tally: Doug Jones (D) 49.9% ... Roy Moore (R) 48.4% ... Write-ins: 1.7%.
President Trump tweeted this morning that he'd originally supported Luther Strange in the Alabama Senate special election because he believed Roy Moore to be unelectable — even though he had fully thrown his support behind Moore over the last few weeks:
The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017
President Trump is in a political slump after last night's shock victory by Democrat Doug Jones over Republican Roy Moore in the special U.S. Senate race in Alabama, a state Trump won by 28 points.
Trump: "I was right!" ... The president tweets at 6:20 a.m.: "The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!"
Following Doug Jones' victory in Alabama, National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Cory Gardner is calling on Jones to vote with the GOP:
.@NRSC Chairman @SenCoryGardner: “Tonight’s results are clear – the people of AL deemed Roy Moore unfit to serve in the U.S. Senate..I hope Senator-elect Doug Jones will do the right thing and truly represent AL by choosing to vote with the Senate Repub Majority.”— David M. Drucker (@DavidMDrucker) December 13, 2017
