Calls for that senate race coming in at different times. The associated press, i think, called the senate race for doug jones at around 10 30 p. M. Eastern time. Here at msnbc, we take all of our election calls from nbc news, in any election where nbc does a call. Last night. Nbcs projection in the Alabama Senate race took a few minutes longer than the a. P. s did. It was still before 11 00 eastern time, but later than the a. P. And some other news organizations had called it. And im not complaining about that. That is more than fine by me, as far as im concerned, the rule there is, better right than first. And that is true in all aspects of this business and in life. Its particularly important when it comes to calling an election. So i tell you all of this because the way that worked, logistically around here, last night, whale we were continuing to watch the vote come in, my hour was over, lawrence was hosting. It was starting to look like things were really going in doug jones direction, but it wasnt over yet. And in the 10 00 hour, at one point, joy reid and i were both on set with lawrence, as we were all watching those numbers come in, were commenting on what we understand those numbers mean, this is a very exciting culmination of the race. And we could see where things were going, right and were wondering when people are going to start making calls. We dont control that. Were wondering what were going to hear. And we had two things on screen simultaneously. Did you see this last night . On the right side of the screen, we had Steve Kornacki in his patented khakis and his oxford shirt, right . He has this big red and blue touch screen map of alabama. And steve was sort of frantically and expertly refreshing that map in realtime, going county by county by county to process all the results as theyre coming in. So steve is a fixture now on the right side of the screen. Were never taking him offcamera. Lawrence just keeps going back to steve over and over again, every time new numbers come in. Thats on the right side of the screen. On the other side of the screen, by then nbc had not called it, but we could all see where the numbers were going, we were aware that some other news organizations had started to call it. We have good reason to believe its likely going to be a doug jones victory. Honestly, the shot that we had of roy Moores Campaign at the same time looked like an oil painting, right . Nobody was moving. Everybody had very long faces. They were obviously very worried. Doug Jones Campaign headquarters, that equivalent shot was starting to look like a party. You know, theyre getting to the point where theyre starting to be convinced that doug jones had won. So, at that point, as were getting really close to a call, we started keeping up on the left side of the screen, just a fixed camera shot of the crowd at doug jones headquarters in birmingham. And Steve Kornackis on the right with the map. This is what it was like in studio to be covering this on tv last night. And that shot of Doug Jones Birmingham headquarters living on the left side of our screen and not being taken down, that is how we met the hero kid of the Alabama United States Senate special election of 2017. Watch. Thats going to be put off until next year, until after they can count on Luther Strange to vote for their tax bill and the spending bill and anything else they want. When he put out that announcement, that whoever wins wasnt going to get sworn in, i wondered if mcconnell had some i saw your tweet about that. And i jumped on that. Because oftentimes, they are sworn in, within a day or two, sometimes, of these elections. But its for the senate, its all about getting certified results from a state, and alabama can be relied on to drag its feet, on certifying this new democratic senator. Go ahead, Steve Kornacki, were back at you. So realtime in the studio, lawrence starts talking, and im look what is that kid doing . and, in fact, right at that moment, we went back to Steve Kornacki and then doug jones won the election and that kid got swamped. But that kid clearly was our sign from the heavens that Something Big was about to happen, right . This young man, too young to vote, but too amazing not to win the night, random flexing superpower kid, you were the best thing on Television Last night. For a democrat to win a u. S. Senate seat in alabama does feel like a miracle. And i mean that not like in the sense that it feels like, oh, a political anomaly. I mean, it feels like a religious hem hempbs had to shift and we had to get other worldly signs to brace ourselves that something unreal was about to happen. We know in fact that what happened was not technically miraculous. It was the rational product of a lot of flesh and blood work by a lot of real human beings. But it did feel miraculous last night, and it has felt miraculous all day, even as the defeated republican candidate is now going on 24 hours and trying to claim that last night never really happened. As i mentioned with, the ap called the race at around 10 30 eastern time last night. Everybody else had called it within a half an hour. Doug jones then soon came out and gave his victory speech in birmingham. And soon thereafter we got word that despite the fact that everybody had called the race for doug jones and it seemed like a clear win, despite the fact that doug jones had cla declared victory, despite the fact that President Trump had even congratulated doug jones on his victory, despite all of that, word came down that roy moore was not planning on conceding. Now, at around 11 30 eastern last night, roy moore came out to address the people who remained at his very quiet headquarters, but he only came out to tell them that he was under the impression that this race was not over. Realize when the vote is this close, that its not over. And we still got to go by the rules, about this recount provision, and the secretary of state has explained it to us, and were expecting that the press will go up there and talk to them to find out what the situation is. But we also know that god is always in control. God may always be in control, but whether an election is over or not, whether theres going to be a recount or not, the way that god controls that, if god is controlling that, is with a number of votes you lose by. In refusing don seed lato conce night, roy moore said something specific about why he wasnt conceding. He said his campaign was conferring with the secretary of state about the recount provision. And after roy moore raised that possibility, thats when things got really weird. Because the alabama secretary of state did then go on National Television to try to explain to the country what the recount provision is in alabama. And that exercise could not have been more awkward in the moment, but what the secretary of state said, what he explained to the country was also just totally legally wrong. Kayleah hartung from cnn is with the secretary of state of alabama. And maybe can help clear some of this up. Kaylee, do you in the shot take it away, kaylee. Reporter thank you, jake. Secretary merrill, roy moore, we just heard from him. Hes on his way here. What do we need to understand about the conversation that will take place when he arrives . I dont know that judge moore is coming here, im not expecting that. Im expecting other people from the media to come here. Im not very comfortable in visiting with judge moore or anybody in his campaign tonight. Reporter so at this point, do you believe there is a chance of a recount . Well, theres always a chance of a recount, because any candidate can ask for a recount, and if they pay for it, they can receive a recount. That was the alabama secretary of state last night on cnn, explaining, awkwardly, in his own words, what he believed to be the recount provision in alabama. Its important, because thats what roy moore is citing to explain why he is not conceding this race. I have to tell you, what the secretary of state just said there about alabamas recount provision is not true. Can we run just that last little bit of tape, just one more time . Any candidate can ask for a recount, and if they pay for it, they can receive a recount. That is not true. As a matter of alabama law. Under alabama law, as explained in the alabama election manual and as shouted from the rooftops by election expert, rick hassen today, what she just explained there about getting a recount if you pay for it, thats only true if you run for state office in alabama. That is not true if you are running for a federal office like, say, u. S. Senator. So confusion about the law has been a pronounced feature of the roy moore candidacy, and indeed, his entire turn in public life. He has maintained, for example, that a person can be banned from Public Office on the basis of his religion, when he said muslims shouldnt be allowed to serve in congress. For example, he was twice thrown off the bench in alabama for refusing to obey federal court orders, because he thought he didnt need to. Well, arguably, there was also a leak from the march campaign seemed to apply that it was all right for a grown man to have Sexual Conduct with a 14yearold girl, provided the girls parents handed her over to the grown man. Theres been a lot of legal misunderstandings when it comes to the high points of the moore candidacy. But right now in the wake of this loss by roy moore, this stunning Democratic Victory last night in alabama, we are in sort of a weird legal situation. Because roy moore still isnt conceding. And he says hes not conceding because he believes hes entitled to pay for a recount in the race. And he says he believes that because he conferred with the secretary of state. And it may be that the secretary of state has told him that is the case. But the secretary of state is wrong. I mean, had this race been closer than a half percent between doug jones and roy moore, yes, there would have been an automatic recount paid for by the state. But roy moore lost by more than three times that margin to jones. And he cant just pay for a recount if he wants one. Theres no provision for that in alabama law. But the secretary of state doesnt appear to know that. So what next . I mean, on its face, this race does appear to be over. Its just a matter of the state certifying the vote. But 22 1 2 hours on from that little kid dancing into my heart, there has been no concession from roy moore. And actually, theres been no word from roy moore whatsoever. The secretary of state has misstated the recount law in his own state on National Television. And although this particular secretary of state in alabama makes a practice of frequently issuing clarifications on legal matters on his website on all sorts of electionrelated stuff, today he has apparently issued no clarification whatsoever. So its this weird thing thats now sort of feels like background music. A big national story, right . There is this national furor, national excitement over what happened last night in alabama, but technically, last night in alabama is not settled, if you ask one side in that contest. Now, that may end up having implications both in alabama and in washington, d. C. Were going to be talking about both of those prospects over the course of this hour tonight, which means were going to be going back to birmingham tonight. Alabama, im sorry, you are not yet free of the plague of National Media that has descended upon you. In the wake of last nights shock results, the country has today learned a lot more about doug jones, this lifelong alabamian democratic prosecutor who beat roy moore last night. In the wake of last nights shock results, the Democratic Party has once again affirmed the importance and the centrality of the Africanamerican Community within the Democratic Electoral coalition. In the wake of last nights shock results, the Democratic Party excuse me the Republican Party has spent the day fighting about whose fault it is that roy moore was nominated in the first place, let alone that he was beaten in a state like alabama. But in the wake of last nights shock results, the bigger electoral question, bigger political question for everybody after these results came in last night is what does this mean about whats going to happen next . How worrying should last nights results be for the Republican PartyGoing Forward . Its one thing for them to be having their daylong recriminations today about what just happened and whos to blame and how terrible steve bannon is, right . Its one thing for them to talk about why this went wrong. Its another thing for them to try to figure out if what happened last night is foreshadowing about whats about to happen to the Republican Party over the next year and into the next elections and what may happen to the trump presidency. All right, how worried are republicans after last night . If you are trying to quantify that, if youre trying to figure out how to measure the amount of National Republican worry over the past 24 hours, there are a couple of pieces of data that you should factor in there that did not get a lot of attention today. But thats what they mean, and weve got that, next. Directv has been rated number one in Customer Satisfaction over cable for 17 years running. But some people still like cable. Just like some people like wet grocery bags. Getting a bad haircut. Overcrowded trains. Turnstiles that dont turn. And spilling coffee on themselves. But for everyone else, theres directv. For 1 rated Customer Satisfaction over cable, switch to directv. And for a limited time get a 100 reward card. Call 1800directv your privacy makes you myt number 1 place to go number 2. I love you, but sometimes you stink. Febreze air effects doesnt just mask, it cleans away odors. Because the things you love the most can stink. And try febreze small spaces to clean away odors for up to 30 days. Breathe happy with febreze. Turn up your swagger game with one a day mens. A complete multivitamin with key Nutrients Plus b vitamins for heart health. Your one a day is showing. Do you know about the other election that happened last night . Other than the Doug Jones Roy Moore race in alabama . Obviously, a u. S. Senate race is always going to be a big deal special election, but you know, there was also another one that was a state Senate Election last night in the great state of iowa. In northwestern iowa, a district that includes parts of sioux city, its a very, very republican part of iowa. Its a very republican district. In that district, republicans outnumber democrats two to one among registered voters. Donald trumps margin of victory over Hillary Clinton in that district was 41 points. Not that trump got 41 percent of the vote. He got 41 points more than Hillary Clinton did. He just won there in a gigantic landslide. Well, last night there was a special election to fill the seat from that district in the iowa senate. And a republican still won, but that seat last night swung 31 points in the democrats direction compared to last november. And that kind of democratic gain, a 31point gain, it might be tempting to dismiss that as a political anomaly, as well. Im told the democrats ran a particularly good and effective and wellknown candidate in that race, but it turns out what happened in iowa last night wasnt a oneoff. There have been four contested special elections in iowa since the 2016 election. Last night was a 31point shift to the democrats. The one before that was also a 31point shift to the democrats. The one before that was a 34point shift to the democrats. And one before that was a 32point shift to the democrats. Now, i mean, some legislative districts, some congressional seats, even, in some states, are going to be so partisan that thats, you know, still a comfortable margin for republicans. There are some places that are going to lean so republican that you can have a 32 or 34point swing toward the democrats and the republican will still hold on to power. There are places like that, but there are not that many places like that. If you extrapolate dynamics like that to the whole country, 30, 32, 34point swings. And not in just one night, like, in every thats the range of outcomes there have been in iowa since the election. Four different elections. Seeing the winds blowing in that direction, Texas Democrats yesterday announced that for the first time in years, they will run a democrat to contest every single congressional seat in the Lone Star State in 2018. They dont usually do that, first time in 25 years. Theyre not doing it to make a point. Theyre doing that because they think theyre going to win some of those seats, because they think the win winds right now a blowing so hard in the Democratic Partys direction. Then this morning, as the country was still absorbing the news that the number of republicans in the u. S. Senate is going to go down to 51, because a democrat is being added to the rolls from alabama. What . as people were reading threeinch headlines to that effect over their breakfast cereal all over the country today, republicans got Something Else to worry about that is specific to the u. S. Senate. What senator al franken announced that he would resign six days ago, we knew then that democratic governor mark dayton in minnesota because of the chance to choose al frankens replacement in the senate. And there were considerable worries that mark daytons plan, his priority was to pick somebody for the franken seat who would be just a placeholder, a person who wouldnt run to hold on to that seat when it goes to the voters next election