In the immediate aftermath, Democratic leaders are eager to leverage a narrowed Republican majority in the Senate to try to stall the Trump agenda, including the GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax package.

And they plan to use the defeat of firebrand Republican Roy Moore, who faced allegations of sexual misconduct, to escalate their criticism of Trump’s character, believing the Alabama race may show that even the president’s core voters are growing wary of political figures dogged by claims of inappropriate behavior. Trump, who endorsed Moore, has been accused by more than a dozen women of groping or touching them without their consent, which he has denied…

“You’ve got to have a good candidate and unified party. You can’t have Steve Bannon going one way with Trump and the Republican Senate committee going another way,” said Ed Rollins, an adviser to the pro-Trump Great America Alliance super PAC. “It’s going to make everything more difficult. Everyone is going to start panicking.”