Alabama lawmakers poised to reset congressional primaries amid redistricting fight

Alabama lawmakers were poised Friday to advance a bill that would let the state reset its congressional primaries if federal courts clear the way for a new U.S. House map, putting the May 19 election calendar in jeopardy and intensifying a fight over Black representation.

Gov. Kay Ivey called the Legislature into special session on May 1, and the measure needs only a final Senate vote before it goes to her desk. The bill would allow special primaries if the courts permit Alabama to use a revised map, and it would also give the state a way to nullify the current results if the legal fight runs past the scheduled contests.

That timing matters because Alabama’s primaries are already set for May 19, with runoffs on June 16 if needed. Under the proposal, if a court order is dissolved or overturned after those primaries or the runoffs, the results would be wiped out and new elections would be held under the revised districts. The new primaries would not have runoffs, shortening the process even as the map itself remains under dispute.

The central political prize is Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, now represented by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. Under the 2023 map Alabama is asking federal judges to restore, the Black voting-age population in that district would fall from about 48.7% to 39.9%. That shift would make the district more Republican-leaning and could threaten the seat Figures won in 2024 after a court-ordered map was drawn to create a second district where Black voters were the majority or close to it.

Republican officials argue the legal landscape has changed after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in a Louisiana voting-rights case weakened protections under the Voting Rights Act. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has filed an emergency motion seeking a quick Supreme Court answer on the map, and GOP lawmakers say the courts may now view the case differently. Democrats and civil-rights advocates have denounced the effort as an attack on Black representation in Congress, and committee debate on the bill was muted, with no one speaking in support at a public hearing.

The Alabama fight is part of a broader Southern redistricting scramble. Tennessee has enacted new congressional districts that split Memphis’s Democratic-held Black-majority seat, Louisiana has postponed its U.S. House primaries while lawmakers redraw districts, and South Carolina Republicans have proposed a new map. Since Donald Trump urged Texas to redraw its districts in 2025, nine states have adopted new House maps, with Republicans estimating they could gain as many as 14 seats and Democrats as many as 10.