Roy Moore

Updated at 2:20 p.m. ET

Republican Roy Moore's upset loss to Democrat Doug Jones is now official, after Alabama's State Canvassing Board certified the results of the special election for a seat in the U.S. Senate early Thursday afternoon.

"I am looking forward to going to work for the people of Alabama in the new year," Sen.-elect Jones said in a statement. "As I said on election night, our victory marks a new chapter for our state and the nation."

Doug Jones, the senator-elect from Alabama, says the campaign against his Republican rival, Roy Moore, was "surreal," but that ultimately, the tumultuous election came down to "kitchen table issues."

The Democrat's comments, during an appearance on NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers early Friday, came as his opponent in the Dec. 12 special election to replace the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions had yet to concede — a full 10 days after the vote.

In Washington and around the country, Democrats and Republicans are trying to make sense of Doug Jones' stunning upset in the Alabama Senate race.

Jones' victory in a state that hadn't sent a Democrat to Washington in almost 30 years was even more shocking than when Republican Scott Brown won the late Ted Kennedy's seat in a Massachusetts special election in 2010.

Here are 5 takeaways from Tuesday's political earthquake:

1. The blue wave looks real

Updated at 12:44 a.m. ET

Democrat Doug Jones has won the Alabama Senate special election, a victory that was a stunning upset in a deeply red state that voted overwhelmingly for President Trump. The president, who had backed Republican Roy Moore despite multiple accusations of sexual misconduct and assault, congratulated Jones on Twitter.

Election Day is finally here in Alabama's U.S. Senate race.

"Unprecedented" is a term that was thrown around a lot to describe the crazy 2016 presidential election. Now, the Alabama Senate race may be giving that campaign a run for its money.

Updated at 10:34 p.m. ET

Speaking at a campaign rally Friday night in Florida — but about 20 miles from the Alabama state line — President Trump seized upon news that one of GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore's accusers had added to a yearbook inscription which she has offered in support of her allegations that Moore sexually assaulted her when she was a teenager decades ago.

"So did you see what happened today? You know the yearbook?" Trump asked attendees in Pensacola, Fla. "There was a little mistake made."

For some Alabama voters, supporting abortion rights may be a sin worse than some of the sexual misdeeds Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore has been accused of — allegations Moore has denied.

That's the conundrum facing the state's conservative, deeply religious electorate: Embrace Democrat Doug Jones despite his liberal stance on abortion and other social issues or vote for Moore anyway even if they believe there is some truth to the sexual assault allegations against him.

Even in Alabama ZIP codes where Donald Trump dominated in 2016, there are lots of campaign signs that say "GOP for Jones." That is Doug Jones, the Democrat opposing Republican candidate Roy Moore in next week's special election for the U.S. Senate.

Updated at 10:30 p.m. ET

Just over a week ahead of Alabama's special Senate election, President Trump and the Republican National Committee confirmed Monday they are standing behind embattled GOP nominee Roy Moore's campaign.

The Washington Post says a woman who approached reporters with a story that Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore got her pregnant as a teen actually "appears to be part of undercover sting operation" run by conservative activist James O'Keefe — suspicions the newspaper says were confirmed when the woman was spotted walking into the offices of Project Veritas on Monday.

Updated at 5:25 p.m. ET

President Trump is defending Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore, who has been accused by multiple women of sexually assaulting them when they were teenagers and Moore was in his 30s.

Sexual assault allegations against Roy Moore have reverberated from Alabama to Washington, D.C.

Many Republican leaders have pulled their support from Moore. They include Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner, the head of National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is in charge of electing GOP senators.

Updated at 6:55 p.m. ET

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that President Trump believes the allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault against Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore are "very troubling and should be taken seriously" but stopped short of calling on him to step aside as other national Republican leaders have.

"He believes the people of Alabama should make the decision of who their next senator is going to be," said Sanders, who added later that she didn't expect Trump to campaign for Moore.

The news did not improve this week for Roy Moore, the Alabama Republican nominee for a U.S. Senate seat who is facing sexual assault allegations. While new accusers came forward, several of Moore's previous, prominent supporters took a step back.

Updated at 6:38 p.m. ET

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is getting more specific about what he sees as perhaps the best, if impractical, option for preventing an Alabama Senate seat from falling into the hands of GOP nominee Roy Moore or a Democrat. Meanwhile, the Republican National Committee has pulled its financial support from Moore's campaign.

With his U.S. Senate campaign in Alabama suddenly endangered by allegations that he had sexually abused a minor, GOP candidate Roy Moore sought to turn the crisis to his political advantage by portraying it as an "us vs. them" confrontation.

"We are in the midst of a spiritual battle with those who want to silence our message," he tweeted.

Updated at 2:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday

Roy Moore, the embattled GOP candidate for an Alabama Senate seat, continued Saturday morning to deny allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers, including an episode with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32.