Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Democrats in two Alabama congressional districts redrawn by Republicans after a US Supreme Court ruling weakened the Voting Rights Act won their special primary elections on Tuesday. Incumbents Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell were unopposed, and both are now headed for November contests that are expected to be closely watched, especially in Figures’ district.
Alabama is holding special primaries in four congressional districts after new boundaries were drawn following the court decision. Republicans reshaped Figures’ 2nd Congressional District to make it more favourable to their party, while the new map also changed three other districts, including Sewell’s 7th District.
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Republicans are aiming to flip Figures’ seat after redrawing the heavily Black district in their favour, as part of a broader push to protect their majority in the US House. Both parties have placed the district on their priority lists. State Representative Rhett Marques, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump in the Republican primary, said, “We need to win this seat back for the state and for the country. We need to turn it red again.” Six Republicans are competing to challenge Figures, while voters are also choosing nominees in three other districts affected by the redraw. Sewell, Alabama’s other Black representative, is seen as having a more favourable path to re-election than Figures.
Figures won the seat in 2024 after years of litigation under the Voting Rights Act. A federal court had redrawn the reliably Republican district after ruling that the Republican-controlled Legislature had intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up 27 per cent of Alabama’s population. The court said the state should have a second district where Black people are a majority or near-majority. Figures’ victory gave Alabama, for the first time in its history, two Black representatives. Figures and Sewell are the only Democrats in the state’s seven-member congressional delegation.
In April, the US Supreme Court struck down a majority-Black district in Louisiana, calling it an unconstitutional gerrymander that relied too heavily on race. Alabama Republicans, like those in other Southern states, moved quickly after that ruling. Lawmakers passed legislation to cancel the results of ongoing primaries and instead hold Tuesday’s special primaries under a map previously drawn by the Legislature. The Supreme Court in June allowed Alabama to switch to the new map.
At a recent forum in Dothan, candidates in the Republican race for the 2nd District answered questions on the Iran war, data centres and local needs, but much of the focus was on the general election. Marques said, “Shomari is going to have the money. He is going to have the opportunity to keep this district. If we get out to vote, we can win it, and we can take this seat back for the Republicans.” Candidate Hampton Harris, a lawyer, said, “It’s important to get out there and make your voices heard and be represented up in DC.” Christian Horn, a business owner and the only Black candidate in the race, said Republicans need someone who can compete across the district, not just in traditional party strongholds. Former Trump appointee in the US Department of Agriculture David Matthews, former US Army Green Beret Joshua McKee and former Marine James Richardson are also in the contest.
When Figures won in 2024, the district ran from his hometown of Mobile across Alabama’s Black Belt region to the Georgia border. It has now been redrawn into the state’s south-eastern corner and includes Montgomery and Tuskegee, both Democratic strongholds with deep civil rights history. It also covers rural farming areas and places with a strong military presence, including an Air Force base in Montgomery and an Army base in Dale County. The district’s Black voting-age population fell from 48 per cent to 40 per cent after the redraw.
Figures has said he remains confident. Speaking at a community gathering at Beulah Baptist Church, near the route of the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, he said Republicans would not succeed in making the district “unwinnable” for him. “That’s in large part because I’ve had the privilege to represent over half of this new district already. We’ve shown up in the communities. We’ve shown them how we can deliver results,” he said. Tom Heisner, a 79-year-old retired air traffic controller who attended the Dothan forum, said the Republican Party was closer to his views on border control and other issues. “I’m fairly confident it will go Republican around here,” he said of the Dothan region. “I’m not so sure up in Montgomery.” Maggie Walker, an 80-year-old retired educator from Montgomery, said she saw the Supreme Court’s redistricting decision as an effort to install “as many Republicans as possible” in the House, but she remained optimistic that Figures could still win.
The special primaries have set up a high-stakes general election in Alabama’s redrawn districts, with Figures facing a tough fight in a reshaped seat and Sewell entering the next phase from a stronger position. The contests come after a legal and political battle over district lines that has again put race, representation and control of the US House at the centre of Alabama politics.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
