This past week provided a stunning upset for the Republican establishment: Democratic candidate Doug Jones defeated Republican candidate Roy Moore for a Senate seat in Alabama. Jones' election will cut the GOP's Senate majority to 51-49. Alabama is a consistently red state, and this special election result marks the first time in over two decades that it has elected a Democratic senator. For the Republican Party, Moore's loss is hard blow. For President Trump, it is an embarrassment, as he endorsed Moore over Twitter and even campaigned beside him in person, though Trump now insists he knew that Moore could not win.
The deciding factor in Moore's loss was the accusations of sexual misconduct and child molestation made by several women, who detailed encounters with Moore when he was in his thirties and they were in their teens. Moore also has a long history of controversial public remarks, saying that Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress and that homosexuality should be considered a crime. Jones took the opportunity to frame the election as a test of Alabama's moral fiber and as an opportunity to prevent the state's embarrassment under a hypothetical Moore administration. He campaigned heavily for the African-American vote in Alabama, and his efforts paid off: a CNN exit poll reported that 30% of the electorate was African-American, a voting bloc that offered Jones near-unanimous support, with 96% voting blue. This support is widely credited with tipping the election in the Democrat's favor.
Trump also feuded on Twitter with NY Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who has called for his resignation over past sexual misconduct allegations levied against him. Although the allegations have long been public knowledge and did not hinder Trump's election, Gillibrand has argued that the changing national dialogue around sexual misconduct calls for a reevaluation.
The other bombshell of the week was the Federal Communications Commission's vote to repeal net neutrality, which mandated that Internet providers treat all websites equally regardless of their size or content. The 3-2 vote to repeal net neutrality on Thursday fell strictly across party lines, with all three Republicans opting for repeal. That such a slim margin forced through a repeal that over 80% of Americans opposed has many concerned about the future of similar regulatory legislation. "Tribal partisanship is dominating our public policy debates," stated Marc Martin, communications lawyer at the firm Perkins Coie. "It wasn't always this way. First adopted and enforced during the Bush administration, net neutrality began as a noncontroversial policy to protect consumers' use of online platforms." The regulation was aimed at broadband companies such as AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), which will soon be able to speed up and slow down Internet service for websites that they favor or dislike. They will also be able to charge more for "express lanes" of faster service. Those opposed to the repeal argue that this will price out small enterprises that will not be able to pay the fees. The controversial decision is expected to be fought in court.