Say if he had gotten that nomination, all of this would be a moot point. At the time Luther Strange did not. Alabamas present senator with us right now. Senator, very good to have you. Thank you, neil. Glad to be on with you today. How do you feel about this . Must be mixed emotions. Better sweet. Ive loved my time in the senate. We accomplished a lot. Even with the repeal and replace of obamacare. So its disappointing. Ive been honored to serve and looking forward to the next chapter. Its no accident that a lot of folks have said and polls seem to indicate that had you gotten that nomination, all of this drama wouldnt have been necessary. That you probably would have won. Well never know for sure. Right. Neil are you bitter . No, not at all. Im not one to look back. I have a motto many our family, theres no whines in politics. I accented the appointment to give me two years to become a good senator. The governor changed the date of the primary, which threw us into this situation. So turnout was involved. A lot of factors. The failure to repeal and replace, as i said. Im proud of my service. I think we accomplished a lot. Im going to do everything i can to everybody doug jones and hopefully he will work with republicans and Richard Shelby and get things done, too. Neil you think hes going to be like a joe manchintype democrat, maybe because of the times and the state and the environment in which we live, the state he represents, he has to be . I know, neil. Ive known doug jones for 30 years. Hes a former prosecutor. I talked to him. My advice to him, do what ive done. Get to be close to Richard Shelby, our senior senator. Nobody has ever done more for alabama or the Republican Party than shelby. If he does like i have, i think we have the best working partnership and friendship of any senator, two senators in the country. Its paid dividends for our count trip. If doug jones is smart, he will work with shelby to advance our state. Ive done that and that would be my recommendation to doug. Neil any recommendation for roy moore . Hes still fighting this. Im not going to give mr. Moore any advice. I made my case against him. The voters showed otherwise in the primary and that brings us to today. Hes on his own. Neil what did you think of the accusations that came up after the battle for the primary . What do you through . The former prosecutor, theyre very troubling to me. Its unfortunate that that information wasnt available to the primary voters. One of the things you cant control. Thats history. But i think it made a difference in the election yesterday. Neil the president supported you in the primary. Steve bannon did not. He thought a fresher, more rowdy alternative would be someone that is not you, associated with the establishment and he went for roy moore. How do you feel about him . I think he had a bad day yesterday. I was proud to have the president s support. The president s support. Richard shelbys support. For someone who has only been in washington for two months, i sure got to be part of the establishment in record time. So hopefully weve had enough of that talk. Focused on getting conservatives that have records of accomplishment. Thats what i was running on. Weve got a lot of rhetorical conservatives that talk a big game but getting something done. Neil you think steve bannon is that type of conservative . Ive never seen him accomplish anything. He has accomplished one thing that i dont think anybody is responsible. Thats getting a democrat elected in the state of alabama. A lot of people will say, steve bannon, this will be a lesson not to try to find established challengers to incumbents. Ive talked to my republican colleagues and said to them, i was the coal mine canary there. When we didnt get done what we said we would do, i said ill be a test and thats what happened. We didnt repeal and replace obamacare, the voters were mad. No one matter than i was. I was the one guy hanging out there to take it out on. We see where we ended up. You know, senator, a lot of people dont know a lot about doug jones. Hes a good and decent man as are you. A lot of guesses if this thing would push back. Would he be an automatic no vote . The democrats have voted tag in lock step since the year i was been here. Im not expecting anything difference. It goes back to what i said before. If doug jones is smart, he will develop a close working relationship with Richard Shelby and watch what he does. Its going to be good for alabama and a conservative position, which will be good for america. Frankly, that would be good for doug politically if he wants to have any kind of career in alaba alabama. Neil what about you . Finishing Jeff Sessions team in 2020 when the president is running for reelection assuming he wants to, this seat opens up again. Are you interested in it . Are you getting me to im honored to have served as attorney general for two terms, as a senator. Im proud of my record. I think that will be up to i make plans. Good decides in the end. But i want to started involved and make a difference in my state. A beautiful place with wonderful people. We have a Bright Future ahead of us. Neil i admire how you want take my tacky bait. Its looking like in the proposal released today at a conference the top rate goes down, the corporate rate goes up to 21 . Theyre confident that they can get this through, signed, sealed and delivered by christmas. You think its doable . I do. I made a lot of predictions here, neil. Im not sure that they have all come true but this one i feel confident in. The best Christmas Present i can give to the people of my state is to vote for that bill before i leave the senate. Thats the commitment ive gotten from the leadership. I think well get there and im 100 behind it. Neil any possibility that some of these senators that are balking at certain provisions i know Susan Collins were worried about lowering the top rate. Separately rand paul is concerned about the latest spending measure to get us beyond this twoweek hump. So he doesnt look predisposed to like it. Senator corker is he was a no vote. You see anything that would change that . Are you worried . Well, im cautiously optimistic. When you have a narrow margin here, any one or two senators can blow up the whole thing. Theres too much on the line for our commercial globally and domestically and our republican brand. We have to get it done. Neil Luther Strange, thats very much. Great to be with you. Neil all right. Merry christmas. Alabama voters have chosen doug jones, and he is meeting with the press right now. Lets go there in birmingham. Despite what people say and with despite all of the things that get thrown at you, it was nothing that we didnt fully expect. Most important thing weve had an opportunity to travel around this state, talking to so many people from so many walks of life. Listening to their concerns and concerns and joys and happiness. Thats been so gratifying. Especially gratifying to know that in this day and age, here in the state of bam, that a message of inclusiveness, a message of equality and dignity and respect and importantly messages of issues that are really at the end of the day, those issues that people care about. The Kitchen Table issues that we talked about that you guys have heard me preach about over and over. It has been an amazing night for us and an amazing day today. I have received calls from so many wellwishers, friends and family and also future colleagues in washington on both sides of the aisle. I have received calls from democratic senators, ive received calls from my longtime friend senator shelby, leader mcconnell, leader schumer and calls from the president of the United States, president trump. All very gracious, congratulating us on the way we ran this race, the way we portrayed ourself in the campaign and all expressing a desire to look Forward Together to try to work for the betterment of the state of alabama and this country to do as we have said from the very beginning to try to find Common Ground to move forward. I very much appreciate all of the senators and the president for reaching out to me today. Very heart warming and gratifying. Now the process begins of try to get a transition in. One of the calls i received last night, should have said this a moment ago, one of the first calls i received last night was from an old friend, senator Luther Strange. He left a message. I returned that call as i knew he would be very gracious as well. Congratulating me, telling me how proud he was of the campaign that we ran and working together to try to start a transition, for us to move into that office to build our staff and to start work and to continue to work for the people of the state of alabama. So with that, im going to try to field a few questions here and try to figure out the best way to do it. I see my old friend there in the blue tie with his little hand raised. Ill go to you first. Yes, sir. Congratulations. Thank you. Have you spoken with roy moore . I have not. Im going to leave that to him. I think that as most people including the president believe that the people of alabama spoke, and after elections, its a time for healing, a team for reaching out. Thats what i intend to do as once i can be sworn in. Ive told people that i am going to try to be reachable. This was a close vote. And that this state, if you just look at the numbers, one would consider it to still be divided. I dont believe that that will be the case. So im going to reach out. Ill let him make that decision. Lets move this way a little bit. [question inaudible] this is alabama issues. To some extent, i think back back issues are the same as around the country in terms of jobs and education, particularly healthcare. I think the Chips Program that i mentioned last night is an issue that crosses political lines and crosses from one state to the other. At the end of the day, this has been a alabama race. A race that we have focused on in the state of alabama and we have talked to straight to the people of the state of alabama about my record and about the issues they care about. Thats how they see it and how i will see it. My job is to represent the folks in the state. [question inaudible] i think this election shows that people across this country i mean, i want to see people Work Together. I think thats a message for democrats and a message for republicans and independents. When the people of alabama elect a senator who runs on a platform of trying to find Common Ground and reaching across aisles, i think that is a message that both Political Parties should take heed. Thats why i said last night. Have my colleagues recognize that, take time out from what theyre doing, fund that program. Its a message that a lot of people can take a lot out of. [question inaudible] well, you know, look, i think theres a process that has to take place here within the state of alabama for certification. I think historically if you look back at what happened when senator brown won in massachusetts, i think senator reed held the Affordable Care act vote, if i remember correctly. But theres a combination of things. A lot of moving pieces that involve the certification of this election, the recesses of the senate and how they go as we approach the holidays. So well let that play out and see. I think that both senator mcconnell and senator schumer will do the right thing. I spoke to both of them today. They want to work with me and my Transition Team on Committee Assignment and those kind of things. Well see how it goes. Ill go with it either way. I want to get involved as soon as i can, obviously. Yes, sir . You think alabama will change overnight to a conservative state to a thats why i ran. Thats why i won. Because i think im a lot more center of the road political figure, public figure. I think people are looking for somebody that can find that Common Ground. Somebody to listen to them. People forget oftentimes that you know, citizens are not always looking for someone that agrees with them all of the time. They want somebody to listen to them and talk to them and learn from them. We demonstrated we would do that during the campaign. I think we i think my history has been that im going to do that as a United States senator. I think thats the most important part of this. So im going to be that voice for the people of alabama to try to do what i believe Stephen Paddock right what i believe is right for them. More importantly, people are looking for someone that they can talk to, someone that they feel like can best represent them and their interests. If you cant always find that Common Ground, you can move on and agree to disagree. Dont be disagreeable and lets find the Common Ground. What did the president say to you . It was a very gracious call. Very much appreciated it. They congratulated me on the race that we won. He congratulated me and my staff on the way and the manner in which we handled the campaign and went forward. We talk about finding that Common Ground to Work Together and he invited me over to the white house to visit as soon as i get up there. Its a very nice phone call, a pleasant phone call and i appreciated him very much reaching out to me. On this side. Anybody over here . Speak up. I didnt mean to throw too much cold water on you guys. What would you say to moderate alabama voters that dont necessarily agree with you . Youre not going to agree with me. Even some in Democratic Party that voted for me and had been very enthusiastic wont agree with me. The key is trying to find that Common Ground. I know that im just sounding like that broken record to talk about that, but i think its so important. That we try to sit down at a table and talk about things that matter and a big picture and find and hone down on what it will take to get that agenda accomplished. So for those folks and even those that may be even more conservative than that. You know, lets just talk. I believed and said it over and over, the people of this state have more in common than they have to divide us. I want to find those issues more and more that we can find Common Ground on and agree to disagree on those issues that are so divisive that it hard to talk to people about. Yes, maam. [question inaudible] obviously theres been some concern locally. We knew that going into this race. We built this campaign from the ground up. Our state Party Provided whatever support that they could. We knew that we had to reach out to our own democrat leaders in the counties and cities and had to found others, independents that had not been engaged as much to build that. So we built that up. I think its going to be a lot better Going Forward for folks. The national Democratic Party was very helpful to us. They provided the support that we needed, that they were always there to give us advice. We wanted to make sure that this race remained local. We wanted to im not we didnt just push them away. We didnt do any of that. We wanted to make sure that we were fortunate enough that we raised enough money that we could keep this race local. I cant say enough for what they did in terms of the support, the help, the advice. This is not their first rodeo in an election. They also knew that they needed to be careful because we had a message. They didnt want to interfere. Thats the most the thing that i will compliment the dnc chair tom perez the most about. He knew that we had a message, that it was a message consistent with the party but a message that he felt like and we felt like that would be consistent with the folks in the state of alabama. Thats what it was. We stayed true through the primary, into the general election. Thats the one thing that ive told my staff and my Campaign Officials that i am the most proudest of. We didnt have to alter, we didnt move. We were true to ourselves. That was a very important piece of winning this election. People in alabama do not like to see folks that flipflop and do things. They want to see somebody that stays true to themselves because thats somebody that they know they can talk to, reason with and discuss with. Yes, sir. Yes, you. So one big factor in your win was the minority vote. A lot of people criticized your campaign. What do you think brought the minority vote out for you . Let me say first of all, i didnt read all of you folks in the National Media with that criticism. I knew you were wrong. I knew what we were doing. We had boots on the ground. The campaign, the volunteers we had in the campaign was extraordinary. They were not like any other campaign that the state has ever seen. We knocked on 300,000 doors. We rang 1. 2 million phones across this state. We knew what we were doing. We knew the importance of minority votes and we reached out. They responded. I think we had a lot of support from the leadership in the African American community. Those leaders knew me. This is ive been around for a while. I may look young and pretty, but im really not. Ive been around a long time and the leaders knew me and knew my background and knew they would have a partner the United States senate and they felt like they havent had one in awhile except for congresswoman terry sewell who was instrumental. Those folks got people out to vote. Everything that happened in this state and this country, people i think across the country are now realizing, look, elections have serious consequences. When you realize that, you tend to turn out the vote. Yes, sir. Would you talk more about the structure in the Democratic Party here in the state . I dont