Sen. Doug Jones described Giles Perkins as playing a calming, disciplined role on the campaign, comparing him to Yoda, the wise Jedi master in the "Star Wars" movies. | Dan Anderson/AP Photo Elections Giles Perkins, architect of Jones Senate win in Alabama, dies at 51

Giles Perkins, who served as Alabama Sen. Doug Jones' campaign chairman during his stunning special election victory in 2017, died Sunday night after fighting pancreatic cancer.

Perkins, 51, died peacefully at his home in Birmingham surrounded by family and close friends, including the senator.


Perkins was one of the main forces behind Jones' Alabama Senate campaign last year, helping raise Jones from an afterthought to a national cause and flipping the first Republican congressional seat of the Trump administration. Perkins and fellow Jones senior adviser Doug Turner were the ones who persuaded Jones to run in the special election in 2017.

"I think Giles was the architect," Jones said on Monday. "We had so many people who contributed, but if there was an architect that would oversee the project, it was certainly Giles."

Perkins was undergoing chemotherapy during Jones' historic win against Republican Roy Moore in 2017. Jones described his friend as playing a calming, disciplined role on the campaign, comparing him to Yoda, the wise Jedi master in the "Star Wars" movies. The campaign was vindication for decades of effort by Perkins to elect Southern Democrats during a tough stretch for the party. After Jones' win, Perkins aided other Democrats in tough Southern races, dispensing advice to campaigns including Mike Espy's 2018 Senate effort in Mississippi.

"He knew what you had to touch to get Southern voters," said former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who knew Perkins for years. "In many ways, Doug Jones' election is a great tribute to Giles."

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Perkins was born in Lufkin, Texas, and grew up in a family involved in local politics and law. He was a fourth-generation lawyer, graduating from Southern Methodist University before getting his law degree from Washington and Lee University, where he was also student body president.

Perkins built his adult life in Birmingham, Ala. He married Hillery Head, the CEO of Ram Tool and Supply, and raised three children while working in state Democratic politics, rooted in a desire to fight inequality and racial segregation.

Perkins served as the reelection campaign manager for Richard Arrington Jr., the first black mayor of Birmingham, in 1995, and was the executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party from 1997 to 1999. He advised elected officials in the state including two governors.

Perkins was also a candidate for office, running unsuccessfully for attorney general in 2010 — with Jones as his campaign manager.

Joe Trippi, a Democratic consultant who worked with Perkins on Jones' campaign, recalled asking Perkins one night over drinks how he managed to be on every call and in every campaign strategy meeting while battling cancer. The chemotherapy would be enough to knock most people out, Trippi said.

“I’ll never forget it because he looked up at me and said that it was because he wanted to show his kids how to live,” Trippi recalled, his voice cracking. “And that helping Jones to get elected was the best way to do that.”