Charles Barkley: ‘I’m Just So Proud’ of Alabama for Electing Doug Jones

In the aftermath of Doug Jones’ victory over Roy Moore in Tuesday’s senate race, Charles Barkley told CNN that he is “so proud” of his state. Barkley, who was born in Alabama and attended Auburn before becoming the Number Five pick in the 1984 NBA Draft, also said this is a wake-up call for Democrats for taking “the black vote and the poor vote for granted” and that it’s time to “get off their ass and start making life better for black votes and people who are poor.”

“This is a great night for Alabama,” Barkley said. “We’ve been stuck in a time warp for a long time. This is just a great night for Alabama and for Doug Jones. I just want to thank everybody who worked on Doug’s campaign, everybody who came out to vote today. This is just really a referendum on Alabama. We really needed this.”

Barkley was in Alabama the days leading up to the election campaigning on behalf of Jones. Not only was he critical of Moore before and after the race, Barkley urged his fellow Alabama residents to vote and to “stop looking like idiots to the nation” during a rally on Monday.

“First of all, Roy Moore was an embarrassment,” Barkley continued in his conversation with CNN’s Jake Tapper. “If any other man had eight women accusing him of sexual harassment, talking about how he really enjoyed slavery, he thinks people who are homosexuals should go to jail, they wouldn’t have even been in this election. This is more of a referendum on the state of Alabama, and I’m just so proud of my state.”

Jones received 49.9 percent of the vote compared to 48.4 percent for Moore. Jones became the first Democrat to win a senate race in Alabama since 1992 in the process. Moore, however, didn’t concede the race to Jones on Tuesday and said he may pursue a recount.