BREAKING: MOORE CAMPAIGN CALLS FOR RECOUNT

10:15 PM EST: 71 Republic can now officially call the Alabama Senate Special Election for Democrat Doug Jones. He will join Republican Richard Shelby, as one of two Senators from Alabama. This Election has been a close one, and it should be interesting to see how this will change the 2018 Midterm outlook.

10:05 PM EST: Roughly 80% of all precincts in Alabama have reported. With that being said, Jones has won Chambers, Lee, Russell, and Barbour Counties, which was expected. Additionally, Jones and has flipped Lee County, which essentially gives Doug Jones the entirety of the eastern Black Belt. Jones is also overperforming in Madison County.

9:53 PM EST: Lee County, which is one of Alabama’s largest population centers (Home of Auburn University), has gone for Doug Jones. This is also a Democratic pickup. Jones overperformed Moore’s 2012 opponent Robert Vance by 9% here. Madison County, with roughly 60% of its precincts in, shows Jones overperforming by 4.5%. This Election is leaning in Jones’ favor at the moment, although nothing is certain.

9:45 PM EST: Talladega County, which was won by Roy Moore in his 2012 Chief Justice Referendum, has flipped Democrat. In addition, in the “Black Belt,” where the majority of Alabama’s African American population live, Jones is overperforming by roughly 2%. It appears as if Jones has capitalized on the African American vote. This Election is very tight, with Moore and Jones both over and underperforming their expected totals.

9:33 PM EST: The Election seems to have tipped back slightly in Roy Moore’s favor, as Monroe, Clarke, and Butler Counties all seem to have Doug Jones leading. This Election is too close to call, and we will know more once the heavy population centers of the state begin to report more results.

9:27 PM EST: Although Jones continues to trail, his outlook continues to improve. He is outperforming Roy Moore’s 2012 election opponent in even more counties, including Morgan and Colbert counties.

9:15 PM EST: Jones’s momentum is continuing. Rural counties that border the “black belt” are seeing more votes overall for Doug Jones than other comparable Democrats. Jones is currently the favorite to win the seat.

9:09 PM EST: With about 25% of precincts reporting, Doug Jones is showing extreme promise despite currently losing by around 5%, Jones is outperforming comparable Democrats in the key counties of Lauderdale, Lee and Talladega counties.

8:53 PM EST: Roy Moore has taken the lead over Doug Jones, maintaining a lead of around 7-8%. Many Doug Jones counties have very few precincts reporting, which could be indicator of his steep drop in performance.

8:48 PM EST: The race has tightened to with Moore coming within 1% of Jones. Although only under 75,000 votes have been tallied, all metrics are indicating that this race should remain close throughout the night.

8:27 PM EST: Despite early results showing a lead for Doug Jones, this is by no means an indication of any sort of final result. The small lead that Doug Jones has built up only numbers about 1000, however, it is an early sign of promise for Jones supporters hoping to see their candidate prevail in tonight’s election

8:06 PM EST: The key counties for tonight’s race are Madison County, Tuscaloosa County, and Mobile County. These counties all have a population over 50,000 and voted against Roy Moore in the 2012 chief justice race, but voted for Trump in the 2016 election. If Roy Moore struggles to hold leads in these counties, it is an indication that tonight’s race will be very close.

7:55 PM EST: Results for the Alabama Senate special election are expected to be tight. With polls closing in just 5 minutes, most analysts are predicting a slim victory for Roy Moore. Polls all week have predicted a slim margin of victory for Moore, however, a Fox News poll that came out yesterday showed a 10 point lead in favor of Doug Jones. With exit polling data being inconclusive so far, it is anyone’s guess who will come out on top in this highly charged election.