State Watch

Alabama Republicans approve plan for new primaries if courts allow GOP-friendly map

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by Sarah Fortinsky - 05/08/26 8:02 PM ET

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by Sarah Fortinsky - 05/08/26 8:02 PM ET

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Alabama Republicans on Friday approved legislation directing the governor to schedule new primary elections for certain races under a GOP-friendly congressional map — if the courts agree to lift an earlier injunction keeping the current map in place until after the 2030 Census.

The legislation would have no effect unless the courts reverse a previous ruling requiring Alabama to have a second district where Black voters make up close to a majority — a decision that ultimately led to Rep. Shomari Figures’s (D-Ala.) election in 2024.

If the courts reverse the decision, the bill authorizes the governor to ignore the May 19 primary date for certain districts and hold a new special election.

But now — after the Supreme Court last week declared Louisiana’s map an illegal gerrymander — Republicans are hoping the courts will reverse the earlier decision and let the state implement a 2023 map, drawn up by Republicans, that a federal court previously rejected.

As the bill was signed into law on Friday, Alabama asked the Supreme Court to intervene and issue an emergency order clearing the way for the 2023 map to take effect.

The Republican redistricting effort in Alabama has met fierce resistance from state Democrats and Black lawmakers, who joined demonstrators outside the Alabama Statehouse, shouting, “fight for democracy” and “down with white supremacy,” The Associated Press reported.

The GOP-friendly Alabama map would give Republicans a chance to target Figures’s seat and create another pick-up opportunity in November, amid President Trump’s renewed push for red-leaning states to pursue mid-decade districting.

Other states have undertaken similar redistricting efforts since the Supreme Court ruled last week that Louisiana’s congressional map, which was redrawn to include a second majority-Black district, was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander, weakening a section of the Voting Rights Act that has long been used to create new majority-minority districts.

Tennessee Republicans approved a new map on Thursday that carves up the state’s only majority-Black district and threatens to unseat its lone Democratic representative in the nine-member House delegation. Other states in the South are eyeing similar changes.

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