Sewell mobilizes the Congressional Black Caucus to help Doug Jones

Deborah Barfield Berry | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — With only days left in Alabama's tight Senate race, Democratic Rep. Terri Sewell is mobilizing a team of high-profile colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus to get African Americans to go to the polls and vote for Doug Jones.

Sewell has tapped fellow lawmakers with connections to the South or champions of civil rights and other issues particularly important to African Americans to campaign in the state.

The lineup includes South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House, Louisiana Rep. Cedric Richmond, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, Georgia Rep. Sanford Bishop, Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, a rising star in the Democratic Party and an advocate for criminal justice reform.

“Everybody is eager to do what they can to help,’’ said Sewell, who is also a member of the largely Democratic caucus. “It’s just about making sure that we mobilize and turnout out not only the African American vote, but really the millennials. We’re really trying to cast a wide net.”

Sewell, the lone Democrat and African American in Alabama’s congressional delegation, has been on a mission to help Jones, the Democratic nominee, in his bid to win the Senate seat. Jones and Sewell recently visited six black churches in Selma and plan to stop by another in Tuscaloosa this Sunday. Sewell also invited Jones to the caucus' annual legislative conference in Washington in September.

Jones, a former U.S. attorney, will face off against Roy Moore, a former chief justice, in a Dec. 12 special election for the seat of former Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions. Sessions is now the U.S. Attorney General.

The competitive race has picked up steam in the wake of allegations that Moore engaged in sexual misconduct with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Moore vehemently denies those allegations and has rejected calls for him to drop out of the race. Next week, Steve Bannon will campaign for Moore in Alabama.

Moore and Jones have been careful not to nationalize a race in a state where outsiders aren’t always welcome.

Sewell said the last-minute visits by caucus members are aimed at get-out-the-vote efforts.

“We’re not really having Washington folks come in, we’re having folks who are nationally known for important issues that affect the communities that we’re trying to motivate,’’ she said.

Caucus members plan to visit cities and rural communities with large black populations, including Montgomery, Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile and the Black Belt. They also plan to visit churches and college campuses, including historically black colleges and universities.

Earlier this month, Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights legend who worked to register blacks to vote in Alabama during the civil rights movement, campaigned for Jones in the state. Some caucus members also helped during the Democratic primary with robo calls, among other efforts.

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Derryn Moten, chairman of the History and Political Science Department at the Alabama State University, said caucus members should come to Alabama to help.

“At this point, this should be a full-court press,’’ he said.

The visits, however, are likely to generate a lot of attention unlike efforts earlier to downplay help from Washington and national Democrats.

“This is Alabama. They can’t operate under the radar,’’ Moten said. “The likelihood that someone from the Congressional Black Caucus would be able to sneak into Alabama and walk around campaigning for Doug Jones and nobody notices is like nil.’’

Moten said it’s not unexpected that caucus members defer to Sewell for guidance. He said it also makes sense for Jones to rely on Sewell for help.

“She’s recognizable so folk know her and they know her family,'' he said. "She can get Jones into places that he may not be able to enter without some effort otherwise. She can facilitate a lot of things for him.’’

“Absolutely, it’s likely to help,’’ he said.

Jones campaign said it’s “grateful” for Sewell’s support.

"Our campaign and Congresswoman Sewell are continuing to work closely together in the closing weeks of this race,’’ said Sebastian Kitchen, a spokesman for the campaign.

But Moten said he’s bothered that Jones seems to be hesitant about being considered " too close or too comfortable with black folks like somehow that’s going to take votes away from him. I think there’s a real anxiety in his camp about that.''

Moten said Jones needs to do more outreach in black communities, including stops in rural communities, even if it might alienate some white voters. “That’s a risk he should be willing to take,” he said.

Political experts said the black voter turnout will be critical to a win for Jones.

“The key will be to over perform in the traditional base, Democratic base areas, which is the African American community, labor community, urban communities and to try to be able to siphon off some of those moderate Republicans and try to get them to vote Democrat,” said Sewell.

She said get-out-the-vote efforts have been helped by the national discussion about Moore, but the reality is it’s still a special election and those races tend to turn out fewer voters. She said it helps that there is also a state Senate race underway in Montgomery.

“At the end of the day Alabamians really want to choose our own representatives, ‘’ she said. “Not nationalizing this race, but really trying to focus on the fact that the issues that are paramount to our community will be affected by this race.’’

Those issues include health care, education, the appointment of U.S. Supreme Court justices and criminal justice reform.

Rep. Gregory Meeks, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus' political action committee, said caucus members are following Sewell’s lead on how and when to help. The political action committee recently contributed $5,000 to Jones’ campaign.

“We want to make sure that the people of Alabama are leading this,’’ said Meeks, a Democrat from New York.

The CBC donation was part of a $10.1 million haul for Jones' campaign between Oct. 1 and Nov. 22, according to newly filed campaign finance reports. He easily outdistanced Moore, who raised $1.76 million during that time.

National Democrats, meanwhile, continue to mostly keep a low-profile in the race taking care not to nationalize the contest.

“I think he’s perfectly capable of running his own campaign in his own state,” said Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, chairwoman of the Democratic Steering and Outreach Committee.

But Klobuchar said it’s important to emphasize to Alabama voters that Jones is an alternative to write-in candidates, expulsions and other scenarios brought up in the wake of the allegations against Moore.

“There is another candidate who has been a well-respected prosecutor,'' she said of Jones. "He’s also someone who has been talking about bread and butter issues … I think that’s getting lost in the whole thing.’’

Donna Brazile, former interim chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, said the party is “investing critical resources’’ in the Alabama race, but leaving the campaigning to Jones and other local Democrats.

“This is Doug Jones’ campaign. Just like it’s Roy Moore’s campaign,’’ she said. “I think national Dems as well as regional Dems as well as local Dems should continue to help. There are many ways to help. You can phone bank. You could encourage people to vote. You can supply resources so that he can get people to the polls. He knows what it takes to win. He knows the people he needs. ‘’

USA TODAY Reporter Fredreka Schouten contributed to this story.