The Alabama Senate Special Election shouldn't have even been close. President Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 28 points in the state, and one of the reasons Jeff Sessions was chosen to be Attorney General was because his Senate seat should’ve been easy for the Republican Party to the defend.

But allegations that Judge Roy Moore’s had improper contact with teenage girls changed the race. Both Moore and Democrat candidate Doug Jones tried to keep the race focused inwardly on Alabama—even as both brought in outside help. On the Republican side, Moore had Trump strategist Steve Bannon stump for him. Jones welcomed former Vice President Joe Biden and a slew of African American political leaders. But both seemed to know the same thing: that this race would ultimately be decided by the people of Alabama, on their own terms, for their own reasons.

VICE News teams were on the ground in Alabama to hear from voters about the choice they were facing in the final days and hours before Jones's knife-edge win.

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