A political earthquake is forming in Alabama. Gov. Kay Ivey has called state legislators back to the capital, and the target is unmistakable — every Democratic congressional seat in the state.
Ivey convened the special session Friday, responding to pressure from Alabama Republicans who want to eliminate the two congressional districts currently held by Democratic U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell of Birmingham and Shomari Figures of Mobile.
Ivey said the GOP-controlled Legislature should be prepared to set special primary elections if the Supreme Court allows them to use a congressional map that had been blocked in court.
The special session convened Monday afternoon, establishing a contingency plan that would allow the state to move away from its current court-drawn maps.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall had filed an emergency petition with the U.S. Supreme Court the previous Thursday, asking the nation’s highest court to dissolve the injunction blocking the state from redrawing its congressional map before 2030.
Alabama currently sits under that injunction, which bars any redrawing of its congressional maps until after the next census.
The path to this moment stretches back years. The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Alabama’s House map violated the Voting Rights Act. State lawmakers submitted a replacement map, but a three-judge panel rejected it.
A court-appointed expert ultimately drew the final map, producing two House districts where Black voters make up a significant share of the electorate — both of which are now held by Democrats.
That same three-judge panel included two judges appointed by President Donald Trump.
The panel determined the maps were unconstitutional, pointing to Alabama’s racially polarized voting patterns, where white Alabamians largely support Republicans and Black Alabamians largely support Democrats.
Alabama’s May 19 primaries are currently set to proceed under the court-ordered map, which keeps two districts with heavy Black populations in place.
The legal landscape shifted significantly when the Supreme Court issued its ruling in the Louisiana redistricting case.
Justice Samuel Alito’s majority opinion raised the bar considerably for anyone seeking to challenge congressional districts on racial discrimination grounds.
Marshall moved swiftly after the ruling.
“Because the lower court’s injunction cannot stand in light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, we have asked the court to lift the injunction,” he said. “Alabama deserves the right to use its own maps, just like every other state.”
“By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama’s previously drawn congressional and state Senate maps to be used during this election cycle,” Ivey said.
“If the court-ordered injunction is lifted, Alabama would revert to the maps drawn by the Legislature for congressional districts in 2023 and state Senate districts in 2021.”
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger issued a joint statement declaring that the Legislature now has an opportunity to send seven Republicans to Congress — a goal that would require dismantling the districts currently held by both Sewell and Figures.
House Pro-Tem Chris Pringle filed House Bill 1 during the opening day of the session.
The bill would authorize new primary elections in affected congressional districts if a federal court lifts the injunction on the 2023 legislature-approved map and the ruling comes too late to be worked into the existing 2026 primary schedule.
Alabama is not moving alone. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee called his own special session beginning Tuesday.
“We owe it to Tennesseans to ensure our congressional districts accurately reflect the will of Tennessee voters,” Lee said.
Florida moved to redraw its House maps prior to the Supreme Court ruling, with Republicans projecting gains in four seats.
Texas shifted five Democratic districts toward the GOP last summer, prompting California to respond by moving five Republican-held districts to the left.
“The Alabama in 2026 is not the Alabama of the early 1960s,” Marshall said. “It’s a new time and a different era.”
Opponents of the redistricting effort argue that courts have already established that Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters when drawing district lines following the 2020 census, and that the state repeatedly refused to comply with court orders directing it to fix the problem.
