The immediate implication of Doug Jones’s victory is that the Republican margin in the Senate will shrink to just two votes once Jones is sworn in, sometime in the next several weeks. This means the party can lose only one of its members and still pass legislation (with the vice president breaking a tie).

Republicans will now be in even more of a rush to pass their tax plan. I hope the Alabama result causes at least a few of them to reflect on the folly of passing an unpopular bill that increases the deficit and hurts the middle class. Only two more Republican “no” votes can keep it from passing — and the plan violates the stated principles of at least three Republican senators (Susan Collins, Jeff Flake and John McCain).

McCain, who cares about process, in particular may want to think back to what the Democratic leader, Harry Reid, announced the day after the 2010 special election in Massachusetts — a Democratic defeat as shocking as last night’s Republican defeat. “We’re going to wait until the new senator arrives until we do anything more on health care,” Reid said.

The Alabama result also means that the Democrats have a path to a Senate majority next year, if they can hold their own seats and win two of the races among Arizona, Nevada and Tennessee. As Nate Cohn said on Twitter: