Two new Democratic senators were sworn in on Wednesday as the national reckoning over sexual harassment continued to rock Washington.
Doug Jones, the first Alabama Democrat elected to the Senate in a generation, beat Republican Roy Moore, a staunch conservative accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls while he was in his 30s. Moore, who has yet to concede the race, denies the allegations.
Tina Smith, who served as the lieutenant governor of Minnesota until Tuesday, was appointed by the state’s Democratic governor after the resignation of Senator Al Franken, who stepped down over mounting accusations of sexual harassment.
Jones’s arrival in the Senate narrows the Republican majority to 51-49, complicating efforts by the majority leader, Mitch McConnell, to implement the White House’s ambitious legislative agenda.
“I’m hoping to be a good senator,” Jones told reporters as he walked through the Capitol on Wednesday before he was sworn in. “I don’t think that’s a partisan issue. I think any good senator is a bipartisan, and that’s what I’m looking to do.”
Vice-President Mike Pence presided over the swearing-in ceremony on Wednesday. After officially taking the oath of office, the senators retired to the Old Senate Chamber for a ceremonial swearing-in with family and friends.
Jones was accompanied by the former vice-president Joe Biden, who campaigned for the Democrat during the special election, while the former vice-president Walter Mondale joined as a guest of Smith.
Her entrance raises the total number of women serving in the Senate to 22, a new record for the chamber, according to the Center for American Women and Politics. She will serve alongside the Democrat Amy Klobuchar, making Minnesota the fourth US state to be represented by two female senators.
Smith plans to run in a special election in 2018 to complete the remainder of Franken’s term, which expires in 2020.
Franken resigned under pressure from Democrats who urged him to leave office as more women came forward to accuse the former comedian of inappropriate touching and groping. Franken apologized for some of the behavior. But in his resignation speech he said that his response to the women’s accounts “gave some people the false impression that I was admitting to doing things that in fact I haven’t done”.
