U.S. Senator Doug Jones hosted his second town hall meeting since his special election victory in December on Monday night, but the conversation over the course of the evening remained fixated on one topic: whether or not Jones will confirm President Donald Trump‘s Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
“I am doing a lot of work on the Supreme Court nominee,” Jones told the crowd, according to the Alabama Political Reporter. “He will be there for life twenty, thirty years, maybe more, we do not know.”
One constituent told Jones that most Alabamians support Kavanaugh and asked how he could vote in opposition to the majority of his constituents.
“I am going to exercise an independent view,” Jones responded according to the Alabama Political Reporter. “Most of those constituent views are based on 30 second TV ads. My vote is going to be based on what I believe. I am going to be an independent voice for Alabama and that is what I intend to do come Hell or high water.”
Several organizations have called on Jones to both support and vote against Kavanaugh. Last week, the National Rifle Association’s political arm the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) posted a video asking voters to tell Jones they support Kavanaugh by signing a pledge on their website. In July, Organizing for America emailed Alabama democrats asking them to reach out to Jones to urge him to vote against Kavanaugh.
Jones previously stated he would keep an open mind on the issue and that those groups airing ads were wasting their time.
“I’m not worried about the ads. I tell folks, ‘Ads on both sides, they are really wasting their money.’ I have a process I’m going through to do what I think is my job and ads from interest groups really don’t mean that much to me at all,” Jones told the Associated Press.
