Parker Griffith says Doug Jones “dead man walking” over stance on border wall

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With no end in sight of the government shutdown, there’s more at stake than the border wall that President Donald Trump is demanding and the paychecks that are being held up for federal employees. According to voters and insiders Senator Doug Jones may be seeing his reelection chances slip away as well.

Jones is quoted by the New York Times as saying, “I’m just not going to throw money at anybody who is with a gun to my head,” referring to Mr. Trump’s $5.7 billion request for the wall. “Let’s get the government open.”

Former Representative Parker Griffith, a conservative Democrat and early supporter of Jones told the Times, “He’s a dead man walking.” Griffith followed by noting that the electorate math doesn’t favor democrats saying, “He leaned into his base, and his base is not big enough to elect him.”

Jones, who filled the seat left vacant by Jeff Sessions when he became Trump’s first Attorney General, is widely considered to be one the most vulnerable senator in the country. CNBC listed the seat as one of the seven most likely to flip. The Hill listed it as one of five “most competitive”. They reported that, “Alabama is the only solidly Republican state where a Democrat will face reelection in 2020, and while Jones doesn’t yet have a top-tier challenger, the GOP is already eyeing his seat as its best pick-up opportunity in the next election.” In a story titled, “Can Doug Jones win a full term in Alabama” Roll Call analyst Stuart Rothenberg for Roll Call said, ” I don’t think Jones has much chance at all of holding on to his seat next year.”

Alabama state Republican Party Chairwoman Terry Lathan told the Washington Times “I’m already calling him, ‘One and Done Doug.’ Our people are champing at the bit, and I’m telling you it is on fire right now in my state.”

Ann Lynch, an 86-year-old retired schoolteacher, told the New York Times, “I voted for Jones, I did, but he doesn’t support the wall. I don’t like that, of course. I think we need it. Trump knows we need it.”

In the same story, small business owner Angie Gates echoed a similar sentiment. “For us, because we’re a small town, the shutdown is kind of difficult. But there’s also things in politics that may be worth doing. If Doug Jones doesn’t support the wall, I don’t support him.” However, fellow small business owner Pam McGriff, a 56 year-old Republican, would be willing to change her vote if Jones would change his mind. “If he would go up there and balk the Democrats, like Schumer and Pelosi, and say, ‘Hey, I think Trump is right,’ and all that kind of stuff, I wouldn’t mind splitting my ticket.”

Sheila Pressnell, 61, agreed. “Senator Jones, bless his heart, he’ll be a one-term senator. The only reason he got it was because he was up against a child predator.”

Some disagree, saying that pandering would be transparent and would ultimately backfire. John Anzalone, a Democrat pollster in Alabama said “He’s a guy who’s going to be true to himself. Authenticity is what sells in a place like Alabama.”