Alabama Gerrymanders + Montgomery Protest

This story is a bit crazy.  I have read numerous articles about it and still feel a bit confused by the back and forth doings in the courts.  I recommend reading the articles linked below and continuing to watch as more unfolds.

As I understand it...
Alabama tried to redistrict for years, trying to gerrymander away the districts that are predominantly African-American and lean Democrat.  They were unable to adopt their proposed district maps because the maps violated the Voting Rights Act.  


The Supreme Court blew up the Voting Rights Act at the end of April and red states went into high gear to gerrymander with abandon.  

Alabama immediately moved to go back to the gerrymandered map they had previously wanted and their governor, Kay Ivey, signed it as fast as she could.  There were a flurry of court actions, which is where the story gets a bit fuzzy for me.  Since Alabama's primaries were underway as all of this is going down, they continued to hold a partial election, but moved primaries in the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts to August.  The vote for governor, senate and a full slate of state and local offices continued as planned.  

You can see the results of the Alabama primaries HERE.  (AP)

Montgomery Protest

A large protest was held in Montgomery Saturday, May 16.  Montgomery is famous for the Montgomery Bus Boycott and the Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march in 1965.




The Rev. Bernice King, daughter of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., was one of the speakers.  “Sixty-one years later, we come back as new generations to this same hallowed place to reclaim and redeem that legacy because the recent Supreme Court decision demands our presence. It was not only a legal decision, y’all, it is a moral disgrace and a shameless assault on Black political power,” King said.  She said the decision strikes “at the very heart of my father’s and my mother’s sacrifice” and is a direct attack on the generations who faced “dogs and batons and bombs and billy clubs so that Black people and all marginalized communities could participate fully in this democracy.”

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was another speaker - “They think they can draw us out of power. They do not know the sleeping giant that they just awakened.”

SIDE NOTE

I saw this post regarding the election results that feels hopeful - 
Alabama Republicans want people to believe this state is hopelessly red, but the numbers from yesterday say otherwise.

Yesterday’s gubernatorial primary:
858,011 total votes cast.
• 364,635 for Democratic candidates
• 493,376 for Republican candidates

That’s 42.5% Democrat to 57.5% Republican — and even that gap is misleading, because many Democrats voted Republican to oppose Tuberville or vote in important local races.
Alabama is not nearly as red as we are told.

If Democrats, independents, and Republicans who are unhappy with the state of the current Republican party work together, the midterms are absolutely within reach.


READ MORE 

Alabama splits U.S. House primaries after court ruling; S.C. redistricting stalls - Jefferson Public Radio.  Voting rights groups have asked a federal court to keep the current congressional map in place, writing in a filing: "Alabama's attempt to revert to its 2023 map—a map that was never implemented and under which no one has ever voted—when this election is already underway, absentee ballots have been mailed, and every relevant deadline under state and federal law has long since passed, is contrary to the public interest.”

What to expect in Alabama’s primaries - AP.   The Court-inspired actions in Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, as well as earlier legislative actions in other states to redraw their boundaries through mid-decade redistricting, are part of a nationwide Republican effort championed by President Donald Trump to maximize the party’s chances of keeping its U.S. House majority in the 2026 midterm elections.


Supreme Court lets Alabama speed adoption of congressional map eliminating a majority-Black district - NBC News. The state has been battling civil rights plaintiffs over its congressional map for years, with a focus on whether a second majority-Black district was required to comply with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.





WHO TO CONTACT

You have lots of choices!  Alabama politicians need to hear from "we the people".  They are supposed to represent us, not rule us!!!  Many of them ( and their dim-witted supporters) think we are still living in the Confederacy.  We are not... unless too many people fail to speak up.

Alabama Governor 

Kay Ivey (R)
(Term ends in 2027)
https://governor.alabama.gov/
600 Dexter Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36130
334.242.7100

Lt Governor 

Will Ainsworth (R)
(Term ends in 2027)
https://ltgov.alabama.gov/
11 S Union Street, 
Montgomery, AL 36130
Phone: (334) 261-9590

Attorney General 

Steve Marshall (R)
(Term ends in 2027)
https://www.alabamaag.gov/
501 Washington Avenue
Montgomery, AL 36104
(334) 242-7300

Alabama US Senators

Tuberville is running for governor and is endorsed by trump.

Tommy Tuberville (R)
(Term ends in 2027)
https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/
Russell SOB
Suite 455
Washington, DC 20510
(202) 224-4124

Frank M Johnson Jr. Annex

One Church Street, Suite 500-B

Montgomery, AL 36104

(334) 523-7424


Katie Britt (R)
(Term ends in 2029)
https://www.britt.senate.gov/ 
416 Russell SOB
Washington, DC 20510

202-224-5744

United States Federal Courthouse

One Church Street
Suite F-401
Montgomery, AL 36104
334-777-1150


ALABAMA
US Representatives

Alabama has 7 districts.
Two addresses are shown for each representative -
their DC address and another address in their Alabama district.
All terms end in 2027.

1st - Barry Moore (R, 2025)
https://barrymoore.house.gov/
1511 Longworth HOB
Washington, DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-2901

5253 Hwy 90 W
Mobile, AL  36619
Phone: (251) 264-6710


2nd -  Shomari Figures (D, 2025)
https://figures.house.gov/
225 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-4931

Montgomery Co Courthouse 
Annex 1
100 South Lawrence Street
Montgomery, AL  36104
Phone: (334) 777-5700


3rd - Mike Rogers (R, 2003)
https://mikerogers.house.gov/
2469 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-3261

G.W. Andrews Federal Building
701 Avenue A, Ste 300
Opelika, AL 36801
Phone: (334) 745-6221


4th - Robert Aderholt (R, 1997)
https://aderholt.house.gov/
272 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC 20515
Phone: (202) 225-4876

205 4th Ave NE
Suite 104
Cullman , AL 35055


5th - Dale Strong (R, 2023)
https://strong.house.gov/
449 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-4801

2101 Clinton Ave W, Ste 302
Huntsville, AL  35805
Phone: (256) 551-0190


6th - Gary Palmer (R, 2015)
https://palmer.house.gov/
170 Cannon HOB
Washington, DC  20515
Phone: (202) 225-4921

177 Ashton Plaza Street
Millbrook, AL  36054
Phone: (334) 694-5140


7th - Terri Sewell (D, 2011)
https://sewell.house.gov/
1035 Longworth HOB

Washington, DC 20515

Phone: (202) 225-2665

Two 20th Street N, Ste 1130

Birmingham, AL 35203

Phone: (205) 254-1960