Doug Jones’ agenda is a reminder: Alabama Democrats have to be bold

Conservatives play the music in Alabama politics. They set the tempo, call out the steps and judge the dancers.

So the ball is always the same. The right-wingers waltz with large business; do a bit of liturgical dance and stomp and shout at anyone deemed an outsider.

Non-conservatives stepping onto the floor might want to try something different. But they have to follow the beat. Which often means stepping left and right in awkward, self-defeating ways.

So Doug Jones’ policy agenda, unveiled last week, stood out for trying to change the tune.

Now, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee’s proposals will be hard to pass, even if he pulls off a longshot electoral victory. But they represent something we rarely see in Alabama politics: ambition.

Jones made the now-dutiful Democratic calls for Medicaid expansion, a lottery vote and abolition of the state grocery tax. Good ideas but familiar ones.

Yet the agenda went beyond those. The headline proposal was a one-year moratorium on data centers. It’s an obvious contrast with Republican gubernatorial nominee Tommy Tuberville, who has embraced the facilities to the point of accusing their opponents of being foreign agents.

But Jones also pledged to address childcare and use a recently passed federal bill to expand affordable housing in the state.

He also called for constitutional protections for in vitro fertilization and contraception. That would preserve key elements of women’s health. (It also reminds voters that the Republican-controlled Supreme Court tried to ban IVF.)

And while he didn’t use the term, Jones made a pitch for constitutional reform. He wants to give more power to local governments and create a citizen ballot initiative process to allow votes on popular issues the Legislature may block (like Medicaid expansion).

It’s bold series of ideas for the state. But one can’t forget that the Alabama Legislature, not the governor, has the last word on policy. Should Jones win, he will likely face two Republican-controlled chambers. Democrats have candidates in 53 of the state’s 105 House districts and 20 of the state’s 35 Senate seats. Many of them are newcomers or running against well-funded incumbents.

The Democrats running the table is about as likely as winning the lottery while getting struck by lightning. A best-case scenario — the odds of which are almost as long — would be Democrats breaking supermajority control in one of the chambers and getting some leverage over bills. But a GOP-controlled Legislature is not going to embrace a Democratic governor’s agenda. That’s politics.

But it’s hard to argue against the merits of Jones’ proposals. Alabama government is overly centralized and sub-democratic. Housing and childcare are major concerns in Alabama. I’m not a fan of lotteries. But I don’t like the grubby ways lawmakers have thwarted popular votes on the issue.

And Jones might as well try audacity. For one thing, he doesn’t have a chance unless he excites Democrats or the millions of Alabamians who choose not to vote. Apathy is not his ally.

But Jones’ proposals also draw a contrast with Tuberville. Yes, the U.S. senator is making nonsensical plans to prosecute people who haven’t committed crimes (Dr. Anthony Fauci; New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani). He’s spewed disgusting rhetoric about Muslims, immigrants and descendants of enslaved people. Tuberville makes a show of sounding tough and aggressive.

But he’s spitting acid from safe spaces. He limits appearances to Republican amusement parks. He speaks almost exclusively to conservative media, and he’s celebrating guns and wealth while attacking minorities and government. The standard choreography of a GOP frontrunner.

This has led to some odd developments. Tuberville late last month announced the formation of a transition team for an election he hasn’t won yet. His campaign manager, Jordan Doufexis, said the team would give Tuberville “a plan to clean up the place” — that place being the Montgomery state government Tuberville’s party has controlled for 16 years.

So the Republican gubernatorial nominee’s campaign says elected Republican officials are rotten. That’s where reflexive government bashing gets you.

But more important, Tuberville isn’t offering anything new to voters. It’s the bog-standard conservative approach in the state: Reward wealthy Alabamians, ignore real problems and pretend that minorities or outsiders cause all our struggles.

We’ve done this dance for decades now. And anyone trying to do something different has had to trim their message or suggest they’re the real conservatives as they try to keep in time with a hostile band.

But then we’ve seen people like Tuberville’s darling, Donald Trump, ignore the usual music, almost exclusively for worse. And whatever else can be said about the past few decades of Republican control, Alabama remains at the bottom of most measures of joy and happiness. The old politics aren’t keeping prices down or protecting our children from guns.

I don’t know that Doug Jones can win this contest. But he seems to know that he can’t dance to the old tunes. And that Alabama needs to try some new moves.