Democrat Doug Jones won a bitter fight for the deeply conservative Alabama’s Senate seat on Tuesday, dealing a political blow to the US President in a race marked by sexual misconduct accusations against Republican candidate Roy Moore.
Following the announcement, Bloomberg tweeted: “JUST IN: Dollar drops after Alabama Senate vote that saw the Republican majority diminished.”
The dollar slipped 0.3 per cent against the yen after news that the Democratic candidate won in Alabama’s Senate race, potentially making it harder for President Donald Trump to pass his priorities through Congress next year.
The stunning upset by Mr Jones makes him the first Democrat elected to the US Senate from Alabama in a quarter-century and will trim the Republicans’ already narrow Senate majority to 51-49.
Investors were closely watching the result in Alabama’s Senate race with benchmarks in Tokyo and Sydney down, although South Korean and Hong Kong stocks rose.
Mr Moore, 70, a Christian conservative who was removed from the state Supreme Court in Alabama twice for ignoring federal law, has denied the allegations and said he did not know any of the women who made them.
President Trump endorsed Moore even as other party leaders in Washington walked away from him.
Trump later tweeted: “Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win.
“The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends!”
One exit poll found 54 per cent of voters said the sexual allegations against Mr Moore were not important to their vote, while 41 per cent said they were.
Network exit polls, however, showed Trump was not a factor in the decision for about half of Alabama voters. A further 29 per cent said they voted to express support for Trump, and 20 per cent said they voted to oppose him.
Louis Loveman, 73, a retired librarian and self-described lifelong Republican, revealed he voted for Jones.
He said: “It’s simple. I don’t trust Roy Moore.”
“There are too many allegations floating out there for there not to be fire behind all that smoke. I never voted for a Democrat before, but I did today.”
With 99 per cent of the vote counted, the Democrat had a 1.5 percentage-point lead over Mr Moore.
The Republican refused to immediately concede, saying votes were still coming in and that state law would allow a recount if the margin was within half a per cent.
In his victory speech, Mr Jones said: “I have always believed that the people of Alabama have more in common than divides us.
“We have shown the country the way we can be unified.”