Alabama Senator Richard Shelby, a conservative Republican, although a Democrat until 1994, stands out as the unsung hero of the election of Doug Jones to the US Senate over Roy Moore.
Shelby made it clear very early that he could not vote for or support Moore as a Senate colleague, with his despicable record of sexual abuse, along with his racism, nativism, homophobia,Islamophobia, antisemitism,misogyny and theocratic views on Christianity.
Shelby never backed away from that stand, despite the fact that the Alabama GOP establishment went along with Moore reluctantly, and Shelby was not swayed by Donald Trump ultimately backing Moore.
Shelby said that would not be voting for Democrat Doug Jones, but would, instead have a write in candidate that he would vote for, without saying who that was.
His stand convinced enough Republicans, who respected Shelby’s stand, but did not want to vote for Jones, to do the same, with the effect being that Jones was elected as a result.
And now, Shelby has made clear that he knew and liked Jones, and would find it palatable to work with him for the advancement of Alabama, despite their party line differences.
So Shelby should be commended for what he did, and it turns out, it helped elect the first Democrat state wide since 1992, when Shelby was running for his second term in the US Senate, and was still a Democrat.