A special senate election in one state would not normally command much attention outside the United States but such is the intense interest in anything related to Donald Trump that the Alabama race has become headline news around the world.
Granted, the Republican candidate Roy Moore is an extreme example of the type of right-wing politician whose intolerant and distasteful views would have excluded him from high level contests in many places, although not deeply conservative Alabama where he was seeking to replace Senator Jeff Sessions, who was appointed attorney general in the Trump administration.
Minority groups had already watched with dismay as former judge Moore looked set to secure the seat.
Then came the sort of election bombshell that would normally destroy a campaign. Several women came forward to accuse Moore of sexual misconduct dating back to when some were aged as young as 14 and he was in his thirties.
He denied the allegations and stayed in the race, but the claims were undoubtedly damaging to a candidate who championed Christian family values.
Senior figures in the Republican party distanced themselves from Moore but not Donald Trump who, in spite of everything, tweeted his support ahead of Tuesday's vote.
It was a serious political misjudgment by the president who is now firmly linked in the public's mind to Moore, who was defeated by the unfancied Democrat Doug Jones.
Mr Jones appeared to be in shock at his victory. The last time a Democrat won in Alabama was 25 years ago and he later changed parties and became a Republican.
The result is also humiliating for Mr Trump, who won the state decisively in last year's presidential election and will now see the Democrats close the gap in the Senate.
Of course, it is only one election and the circumstances were unusual.
But it may indicate a shift in the public mood, a response to the president's irrational, combative and divisive style of doing business.
And while Roy Moore is refusing to concede, the Democrats will be buoyed by a surprise victory in a Trump heartland.
