CBC PAC pledged $5,000 to Doug Jones. Records suggest the check hasn’t arrived
CBC members, including Rep. Terri Sewell, have been among the Alabama Democrat’s strongest campaign surrogates.
The Congressional Black Caucus PAC has put money into several of this year’s marquee special elections, sending checks to Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Archie Parnell in South Carolina, and Rob Quist in Montana. That the political action committee — the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus — would also commit funds for today’s special election in Alabama is no surprise.
But FEC records suggest a check from CBC PAC to the U.S. Senate campaign of Alabama Democrat Doug Jones has yet to arrive, despite a pledge that it would be sent in early November.
Given that caucus members have been among the Alabama Democrat’s strongest campaign surrogates, it’s a surprising discrepancy.
CBC PAC executive director Benjamin Branch had told USAToday that the organization — which also endorsed Mr. Jones — would contribute $5,000 to the candidate’s campaign, Doug Jones for Senate Committee, and that the check would go out the week of Monday, November 6.
In an email, Mr. Branch wrote that CBC PAC’s contribution could have been sent later in November than the USAToday article suggested.
Mr. Jones is running against Republican Roy Moore in a special election to serve the final three years of former senator Jeff Sessions uncompleted term. Mr. Sessions resigned from the Senate on February 8 after being confirmed as President Donald Trump’s attorney general.
Polls indicate an excruciatingly close race between Mr. Jones and Mr. Moore; the latest RealClearPolitics average has Mr. Moore — a consistent if controversial presence in Alabama Republican politics for decades — ahead by just two points in a state Mr. Trump won by 28 in 2016.
A check from CBC PAC to Mr. Jones sent after September 30 would appear on either the Jones campaign’s pre-special election FEC campaign finance filing or one of its 48-hour notices of contributions received, which disclose contributions of $1,000 or more made on or after November 23.
No contributions from CBC PAC were included in documents filed by the Jones campaign and available at the time of publication.
Requests for comment made to Mr. Jones’ campaign were not returned.
Additionally, if CBC PAC had cut Mr. Jones a $5,000 check after the August primary election but on or before November 22, the committee would have been required to file its own pre-special election campaign finance disclosure with the FEC by November 30. CBC PAC did not file such a report.
Mr. Jones has been on a fundraising tear as of late. Between October 1 and November 22, his campaign netted almost $10 million dollars — with millions of it coming in online, according to POLITICO’s Scott Bland. Mr. Jones spent $8.5 million during that same timeframe, FEC records show; POLITICO reported that much of that outlay went toward media buys.
As a special election that will be decided, in part, on African-American turnout, CBC PAC’s endorsement has particular significance.
African-Americans make up 27% of Alabama’s population and, as noted by The Washington Post, compose “the bulk of the state’s Democratic base.”
Rep. Terri Sewell (AL-07), a CBC member and the only Democrat from Alabama currently serving in Congress, endorsed Mr. Jones in August during the Democratic primary, has connected him with other CBC members, and cut checks to his campaign from both her campaign account and leadership PAC.
Ms. Sewell has also spearheaded efforts to bring black Democratic Party leaders to Alabama. In Selma on Saturday, former Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick spoke at a get-out-the-vote rally alongside Ms. Sewell, Mr. Jones, and the city’s mayor, Darrio Melton.
Sen. Cory Booker (NJ) also came to Alabama over the weekend to support Mr. Jones.
“We need leaders that are not going to divide us and separate us and tear us up and dissect us,” Mr. Booker said on Sunday to a gathering of Jones volunteers, according to Alabama.com.
Depressing Mr. Moore’s poll numbers in burgundy red Alabama are accusations from multiple women, first reported by The Washington Post, that Mr. Moore made sexual advances toward them when they were — in many cases — only teenagers.
One of the women, Leigh Corfman, alleges Mr. Moore assaulted her when she was 14 years old, according to The Post. The age of consent in Alabama is 16.
Mr. Moore has denied these allegations.
Even accounting for the efforts of Ms. Sewell, the CBC, and others, there remains only so much African-American voters can do to boost Mr. Jones — a point Ms. Sewell’s predecessor in Congress, Artur Davis, emphasized in a conversation with NBC News last week.
“If Doug Jones loses,” Mr. Davis told NBC, “it will not be because he didn’t get enough African-American support. It will be because he did not get enough people of his own race, age and gender to vote for him.”
Mr. Booker was more optimistic in his assessment of the race when he took to Twitter on Sunday.
“With [Doug Jones], visiting churches in Birmingham this morning,” the senator tweeted. “So grateful for the rousing greeting we are receiving at every church.”
“The energy is so uplifting.”
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Disclosure: The author made contributions to the campaign committees of Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. Terri Sewell during the 2014 election cycle. The contributions to each campaign aggregated to less than the $200 required for the campaigns to disclosure them to the FEC.
