In the Alabama special Senate election, Democrat Doug Jones pulled off a shocking win (with 50% of the vote) against Republican Roy Moore (who took 48.4%) in a deep red state. To be certain, Jones was equally surprised as the rest of America, but his opponent is not taking his loss gracefully. In fact, Roy Moore has refused to concede the race and wants a recount. As his campaign chair told the crowd, “The military votes aren’t in yet, they’ve not been counted.” They believe that they can somehow make up the 20,000 or so votes needed to pull ahead with such a recount.

Moore then took the stage to tell his supporters that “it’s not over, and it’s gonna take some time.” He added, “Wait on God, and let this process play out.” And Moore had much more to say while referencing the sexual misconduct allegations against him, noting the “close” nature of results, and suggesting that the Alabama secretary of state would indeed set up a recount:

“[W]e still got to go by the rules about this recount provision and Secretary of State has explained it to us and we’re expecting that the press will go up there and talk to them to find out what the situation is. “But we also know that God is always in control. You know, part of the thing … part of the problem with this campaign is we’ve been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light. We’ve been put in a hole, if you will. What we’ve got to do is wait on God, and let this process play out. The votes are still coming in and we’re looking at that.”

Following Moore’s speech, CNN’s Jake Tapper simply stated, “That was … remarkable .. I’m not quite certain what they’re talking about.” His reaction was based upon the Moore campaign’s belief that they were entitled to a recount, but as Dana Bash went on to explain, Alabama only performs a mandatory recount when results fall within half a percent of each other, and Jones’ lead is three times that amount.

In addition, CNN spoke with Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, who said that he was “not comfortable” with the idea of speaking tonight with the Moore campaign. He clarified that a recount is always possible if a candidate requests and pays the costs, but Merrill added that it was “highly unlikely” that a recount result would do anything but guarantee a Jones victory.

(Via CNN)