Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore refused to concede late Tuesday night and called for a recount in his contest with Democrat Doug Jones, causing CNN's Dana Bash to compare his conduct to previous losing candidates.
After major news outlets projected Jones' victory with almost all precincts reporting, Jones delivered a victory speech, while Moore took the stage at his own campaign event a few minutes later. The Republican did not concede defeat, however, saying that he would demand a recount as he believed Alabama law allows.
"It's not over and it's going to take some time," he said.
"Realize when the vote is this close, it's not over," Moore said. "And we still got to go by the rules about this recount provision."
Moore's margin at the time was 1.5 percent, which is more than the margin of 0.5 percent that he referred to in his speech. Moore has not made up that ground as further precincts have reported, and Alabama's secretary of state said it was unlikely the result could be reversed, so it is unclear whether any recount will take place.
Bash pointed out that past losing candidates have done the same, and she outlined the story of Moore in light of past candidates.
"It wouldn't be unheard of for a candidate, who thought he or she was going to win, to take a breath and either use this time to say they want to look at the numbers more closely while they try to process what actually happened," Bash said.
Bash's comments described exactly what happened with Hillary Clinton's surprise defeat and subsequent reluctance to concede. She did not deliver a concession speech that night even after the election was called for Donald Trump, taking time to process "what actually happened," as Bash put it. Clinton's book about her defeat was also entitled What Happened.
President Donald Trump congratulated Jones for his win, and Clinton tweeted in celebration of Jones' victory not long after projections came in.