Roy Moore refuses to concede defeat in the Alabama Senate election 24 hours after losing to Democratic rival
- Roy Moore the Republican Alabama candidate who lost a Senate special election to a Democrat on Tuesday has not yet conceded.
- Moore issued a video statement on Wednesday night saying he would wait for Alabama's secretary of state to certify the results.
Roy Moore released a YouTube video on Wednesday night refusing to concede the Alabama Senate election he lost to his Democratic rival Doug Jones one day earlier.
In the video, Moore insisted that the "the battle rages on," pointing to military ballots, among others, that have yet to be counted before the Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill officially certifies the results.
"In this race, we have not received the final count to include military and provisional ballots. This has been a very close race and we are awaiting certification by the secretary of state," Moore said Wednesday night.
Twenty-fours earlier, Moore floated the possibility of a recount, but Secretary Merrill seemed to throw cold water on that, saying a recount was unlikely to change the outcome of the race, which ended with a 1.5% margin between Moore and Jones, with 100% of precincts reporting. At last count, Jones had earned more than 20,000 more votes than Moore.
"This particular race was watched not only by the people of this state, but by the entire nation, and many around the world," Moore said, adding that he believed the "heart and soul our country is at stake."
Moore went on to recite some of the key platforms of his campaign, and quoted heavily from Bible scripture. He did not explicitly say if, or when, he would concede. Jones said in a news conference earlier Wednesday that he had not received the traditional congratulatory phone call from Moore after Jones was projected the winner.