When Doug Jones won his seat in last year’s Senate special election in Alabama, fellow Sen. Joe Manchin embraced him as a member of the “radical middle” in Congress, predicting he’d cross party lines to get things done.
Four months into his tenure, Mr. Jones hasn’t had a lot of opportunities to strike out on his on — but where he has made waves, he’s sided with President Trump on some controversial nominees, while still finding plenty of issues on which to back Democratic Party leaders.
He’s also kept a relatively low profile as he seeks to bolster a pragmatic brand that could help him win re-election in what’s likely to be a tough state for a Democrat in 2020.
Mr. Jones told The Washington Times in an emailed response that his biggest accomplishments so far included his voting for a 10-year extension of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which pays for health care for children whose parents are low-income but not poor enough to qualify for Medicaid.
He also says he played a lead role in boosting funding for historically black colleges and universities in the omnibus spending bill that ratcheted up domestic and military spending.
“When I ran for Senate, I promised to stay committed to the kitchen-table issues every family cares about and to stay out of the partisan political fighting that has created so much divisiveness,” he said. “During my first four months in office, I have worked hard to take every vote on its own merits, do what I think is right, and most importantly, represent the interests of the Alabamians I serve.”
It’s an approach devoid of the partisanship that poisons many political races today — but analysts said it may be working for Mr. Jones.
“I think he is playing his cards just about exactly perfect,” said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist. “He voted with the caucus on the majority of issues, while picking and choosing his spots to vote against if he needs to represent his constituents.”
Before entering Congress, Mr. Jones was best known for prosecuting two of the Klansmen responsible for the 1963 bombing on the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham that killed four black girls.
He won a stunning runoff in December, where he topped former state Chief Justice Roy Moore, the Republican candidate, and flipped a seat in deep-red Alabama.
Democrats said his win was a sign of growing dissatisfaction with Mr. Trump. Liberal activists said it was the beginning of a blue wave that will crest in November’s midterm elections.
Mr. Jones appears to be trying hard not to anger those Democrats.
In one high-profile vote he opposed a pro-life bill that would have banned most abortions after 20 weeks. Three fellow Democrats from conservative states, including Mr. Manchin, voted for the bill.
Alabama’s GOP-controlled state Senate passed a resolution condemning him for disregarding the “clear wishes of the people of Alabama” and siding with the “most extreme pro-abortion senators to allow this horrific practice.”
Days earlier, Mr. Jones and Mr. Manchin were the sole Democrats invited to the White House to meet with Mr. Trump to discuss efforts to overhaul the immigration system.
But when the Trump-backed plan came up for a vote, Mr. Jones opposed it. Mr. Manchin was the only Democrat who voted for it.
“Sen. Manchin is absolutely looking for ways to pick a fight with his party and or to vote with Trump, while Sen. Jones is just keeping his head down and out of the national news,” Mr. Manley said.
Mr. Jones did join Mr. Manchin and a handful of other Democrats in voting to confirm Mike Pompeo as secretary of the State Department, and also backed a rollback of some banking regulations.
“Jones is playing it safe for the most part,” said Brent Buchanan, an Alabama GOP strategist. “His shift on Pompeo’s confirmation for secretary of state shows that he knows he can’t be a Chuck Schumer Democrat and have any chance of reelection in 2020.”
In his maiden speech on the Senate floor last month, Mr. Jones took on the hot-button issue of guns, calling for both sides to give in the wake of the Parkland, Florida, massacre.
He urged gun control activists to recognize that the political will doesn’t exit to ban certain weapons, and told gun rights advocates to recognize that the federal government is not bent on taking away their guns.
“Extreme views promote equal but opposite extreme views,” Mr. Jones warned. “There will always be forces that seek to sow division and discord, our challenge and our mission is to prevent them from succeeding.”
Nancy Worley, chairwoman of the Alabama Democratic Party, credited Mr. Jones with governing in much the same way he campaigned.
“He hasn’t voted exactly the way that every person who voted for him would like for him to vote, but I think in the vast majority of the votes he has cast he has certainly reflected Democratic principles and positions that he advocated during the campaign,” Ms. Worley said.
“He wanted to be able to go to Washington and talk to the other side and work with people of different opinions and see where there is common ground so that everybody could come to a compromise in their position and get something passed so there wouldn’t be this gridlock and standoff with the two parties,” she said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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