Doug Jones

Doug Jones was born in 1954 in Fairfield, Alabama. His father worked at U.S. Steel and his mother was a homemaker. Jones graduated from the University of Alabama with a Bachelor of Science in Political Science in 1976 and earned his Juris Doctor from Cumberland School of Law in 1979. He began his career by working as staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee for the late Sen. Howell Heflin from Alabama. Jones then worked as an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 1980 to 1984 before resigning to work at a private law firm in Birmingham, Alabama from 1984 to 1997.

President Bill Clinton announced on August 18, 1997 that he was appointing Jones as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama. In January 1998, Eric Rudolph bombed the New Woman All Women Health Care Center in Birmingham. Jones became responsible for coordinating the state and federal task force in the aftermath, and advocated for Rudolph to be tried first in Birmingham before being extradited and tried in Georgia for his crimes in that state, such as the Centennial Olympic Park bombing.

16th Street Baptist Church bombing case

Jones's most prominent case as U.S. Attorney was prosecuting Thomas Blanton and Bobby Cherry for their roles in the 1963 16th Street Church bombing. The case was reopened the year before Jones was appointed, but did not pick up traction until his appointment. A grand jury was called in 1998 which piqued Cherry's ex-wife, Willadean Cherry's, attention and led her to calling the FBI to report her testimony. Willadean then introduced Jones to family and friends who reported their own experiences from the time of the bombing. A key piece of evidence was a tape from the time of the bombing in which Blanton stated that he had had to meet up with others to make the bomb. Jones was deputized in order to argue in state court and was able to indict Blanton and Cherry in 2000. Blanton was found guilty in 2001, and Cherry was found guilty in 2002. Blanton was up for parole in 2016, at which Jones spoke in opposition to his potential release. Blanton's parole was denied. Cherry died in prison in 2004.

Jones left office in 2001 and returned to private law. In 2004, he was court-appointed General Special Master in an environmental clean-up case involving Monsanto in Anniston, Alabama. In 2007 Jones was honored with the 15th Anniversary Civil Rights Distinguished Service Award from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Also in 2007, Jones testified before the United States House Committee on the Judiciary about the importance of re-examining crimes of the Civil Rights Era. He created the Birmingham firm Jones & Hawley, PC with longtime friend Greg Hawley in 2013. He was named one of B-Metro Magazine's Fusion Award winners in 2015.

In May 2017, Jones announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination in the United States Senate special election in Alabama, 2017.