Alabama Democrat Party vice chair Tabitha Isner is urging Democrat voters to head to the polls for the August 11 Republican special primary to try to block former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Mobile), State Rep. Rhett Marques (R-Enterprise) and Ammie Akin from winning their primary races.
Isner recently called for Democrats to pick a Republican ballot in the upcoming special primary.
Alabama has an extra primary election in 2026 in some congressional districts due to Alabama recently reverting back to a likely 6-1 Republican map instead of the previous 5-2 map used in the 2024 election cycle.
Isner said in a Facebook post on Tuesday, “The numbers are in and we can see who the frontrunners are in the Republican Primary on August 11. These are the folks we want to knock off the Republican ticket:
- District 1: Jerry Carl
- District 2: Rhett Marques
- District 7: Ammie Akin”
President Donald Trump has endorsed Carl and Marques in their respective primary races.
The special election is expected to have low voter turnout because primaries usually occur in May, and the week of August 11 is the first week of school for many districts. The winning candidate also only needs a plurality of the votes, rather than a majority.
There are four Republican candidates in the August 11 special primary for Congressional District 1, six in Congressional District 2, and two each in Districts 6 and 7. The only Democrat primary with multiple candidates is District 6. Democrats still have hopes of re-electing U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Montgomery) for Congressional District 2 in November.
Democrats who voted in their party's May primary were barred from voting in the Republican runoff elections in June under state law prohibiting crossover voting. However, Democrats who voted in the May primary will be legally eligible to vote in the August Republican special primary, since it is a separate election.
Closed primary legislation that would've required party registration to participate in the state's partisan primary elections passed the House in the 2026 legislative session but died in the Senate. It would've gone into effect on January 1, 2027, if it had been passed into law. Alabama has an open primary system.
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