U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) continues to prioritize campaigning for reelection over his job representing the people of Alabama.
Jones was marked as “not voting” for all five roll call votes taken in the U.S. Senate on Thursday. He also missed all of Monday’s Senate floor votes; combined, he has now missed 50% of the week’s votes.
For the votes he did take, Jones supported Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) position all but one time (86%).
Thursday’s missed votes for Jones included a bipartisan confirmation of a federal judge on a 67-30 vote.
The only other members of the upper chamber to miss as many votes as Jones this week have been U.S. Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ). Harris, the Democratic nominee for vice president, has missed all of the Senate’s votes this week.
This comes after Jones last week admitted he did not watch any of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s four-day confirmation hearing for Judge Amy Coney Barrett, President Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Alabama’s junior senator said at the time, “I have not watched the hearing. I’m in the middle of a campaign. I have not watched the hearings, and I left D.C. when we were there.”
However, Jones last Thursday did have time during business hours to instead campaign for the Biden-Harris ticket virtually in Ohio. This week, Jones also fundraised for Biden’s campaign.
Barrett received a unanimous favorable recommendation from the Senate committee on Thursday and is expected to receive a vote by the full Senate on Monday. Jones has pledged to vote “no” on confirmation and has not even met with the nominee.
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Terry Lathan has lamented that Jones “has embarrassed our state and shirked one of his most important duties as a senator – represent our state in this nomination process.”
“Our state has been sidelined by his absence. Funny how he said the American people need a ‘full, fair and complete trial’ when it came to President Trump’s impeachment proceedings. He promised Alabama he would be an independent voice,” she added. “On Judge Coney Barrett’s proceedings, he has failed on all of his own promises to Alabama. His slogan is ‘One Alabama’ – it should be changed to ‘Ignoring Alabama.’”
Jones is set to face Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville on November 3.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
