Story highlights
It is "highly unlikely" Doug Jones will not be the winner of the Senate race
Trump endorsed his opponent, Roy Moore
President Donald Trump went back to Twitter Wednesday morning following Alabama’s election stunner, claiming that he didn’t endorse Republican candidate Roy Moore in the primary election because Trump knew Moore wouldn’t be “able to win.”
“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!” Trump tweeted early Wednesday morning.
Trump heavily endorsed Strange during the Alabama primary, traveling to the state to campaign alongside him, something Trump never technically did for Moore in the state of Alabama, Instead, Trump held a campaign-style rally in Florida, just over the border and still in the Alabama media market. In the days following the primary in September, multiple tweets in support of Strange were deleted from Trump’s Twitter account after his loss.
While the election results came in Tuesday night, Trump tweeted a somewhat conciliatory message, congratulating Democrat Doug Jones on winning “a hard fought victory.”
“The Write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win,” Trump tweeted less than an hour after most news organizations had made the call Jones would win.
“The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!”
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told CNN that while results are not yet certified, it is “highly unlikely” Jones will not be the winner of the Senate race.
On Tuesday, a source close to the White House said that Moore loss, “is an earthquake” and “devastating” for the President, who endorsed Moore on Twitter and rallied for him at a campaign event just across state lines.