Democrat Doug Jones will vote to convict Trump despite re-election vulnerability

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

last updated 5 February 2020

The chances of President Trump receiving a bipartisan acquittal took a hit Wednesday after Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) announced his decision to vote to convict on both articles of impeachment.

Jones was considered one of the more likely Democrats to vote to acquit Trump on one or both charges, primarily because he finds himself in a vulnerable position — some say he's in fact the single most vulnerable Democratic senator — in his home state of Alabama where he faces re-election in November. It's tough enough for a Democrat to win in Alabama without voting to remove a Republican president from office, but that wasn't enough for him to let Trump off the hook.

Although Trump will almost certainly be acquitted Wednesday afternoon, the White House is still hoping at least a couple of Democrats join their Republican counterparts since that would strengthen their argument the case for impeachment was flawed from the get-go. Now, that's becoming increasingly unlikely — as is the chance any Republican votes to convict. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) remain the only Democrats who could potentially switch sides at this point.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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