In a stunning rebuke to President Donald Trump, Democrat Doug Jones is projected to be the winner of Alabama's Senate election, upsetting scandal-ridden Republican Roy Moore in one of America's deepest red states, according to NBC News. Jones' expected victory Tuesday — the first in an Alabama Senate race by a Democrat in 25 years — may bring complications for the GOP's sprawling economic agenda in coming months. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Jones was leading 50-48 percent, or by more than 20,000 votes: 673,236 to 652,300, according to NBC. That number is less than the 22,780 write-in votes, meaning, theoretically, that Moore could have appeared as a write-in candidate on enough ballots to win, NBC said. Alabama state law calls for a recount if the margin of victory is less than one-half of 1 percentage point. As of Wednesday morning, a mandatory recount was no longer possible due to Jones' lead, according to NBC.

Alabama Democrat Doug Jones celebrates his apparent victory over Judge Roy Moore in a special Senate election on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Bill Clark | CQ Roll Call | Getty Images

Jones' expected win to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former seat will knock the GOP Senate majority down to 51-49. It creates an even slimmer margin for Republicans as they try to pass a tax overhaul — and potentially other major legislation — with only party votes. Jones, 63, is expected to prevail in a state that Trump carried easily last year as accusations of teen sexual abuse trailed Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice. The last time a Democrat won a Senate seat in the state was in 1992 when Sen. Richard Shelby was elected. Shelby switched to the GOP in 1994 and said on Sunday he wouldn't vote for Moore. Jones, who had never run for office, was the federal prosecutor in Alabama who won convictions in 2001 and 2002 of two former Ku Klux Klansmen in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four African-American girls. Jones' victory was helped by a strong African-American turnout. "Thank you ALABAMA!!" he tweeted on Tuesday night, shortly after news outlets began calling the race. "At the end of the day, this entire race has been about dignity and respect. This campaign has been about the rule of law," Jones told supporters later Tuesday, to cheers. "This campaign has been about common courtesy and decency and making sure everyone in this state, regardless of which ZIP code you live in, is going to get a fair shake in life."

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks after loosing, during an election-night watch party at the RSA activity center in Montgomery, Ala. on Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017. Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images