MONTGOMERY — House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) is optimistic that Republicans could win all seven of the state’s seats in Congress, after the legislature paved the way for the state to use a congressional map that federal courts have blocked for years.
The Alabama Legislature concluded a special session on Friday, which was called after the 6-3 majority ruling in Louisiana v. Callias, in which the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) held that race-based redistricting is unconstitutional. Alabama swiftly reacted, filing motions to have the injunction on the congressional and state senate maps approved by lawmakers lifted. The 2023 Congressional map followed the 2021 initial map, which a federal court blocked, forcing lawmakers to redraw it.
Despite the redrawing, a three-judge panel likewise found that the 2023 map likely violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Alabama's state senate map faces a similar injunction, which the state is also challenging.
A federally appointed special master drew a map for the State to use in the 2024 election, and the State remains under a court order prohibiting the use of new congressional maps until after the 2030 Census.
The legislature passed two bills compelling the state to call a special election in the affected congressional and state senate districts should the courts rule in Alabama’s favor. Ivey signed the bills into law on Friday, putting the wait now in the hands of the Supreme Court.
While many were skittish about definitively calling for the state to eliminate two Democratic seats from Alabama's seven, which includes U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell (D-Birmingham) in District 7 and Shomari Figures (D-Mobile), who flipped the previously-Republican seat in District 2 after the state was induced to use the map drawn by the special master.
After the session, however, Ledbetter did not shy away from stating he thought a 6-1 congressional map was guaranteed by re-flipping Figures’ seat, and a 7-0 map was well within grasp.
“Actually, the Republican party had that seat, the congressional seat in district 2,” Ledbetter told reporters after the session ended. “There’s been a push through the courts to try to overtake some of these red state seats, and that’s certainly what happened in that one. And with the ruling that happened in Louisiana, we feel like it gave us a chance to maybe regain that seat, but also open up District 7.”
Ledbetter reiterated his prediction in a statement following the bills' passage into law.
“We have fought back against insults and attacks on our character from the left, not by feeding into their rhetoric, but by sending a loud and clear message with our votes,” Ledbetter said. “Our combined efforts have yielded real results. If Alabama’s unlawful injunction is lifted by SCOTUS or a lower court before the federal primary election deadline, the state now has a plan in place to revert to the Legislature’s 2023 map. This guarantees that the Second Congressional District – which was wrongfully handed to democrats on a silver platter by the courts – is flipped back to republican control while also putting the Seventh Congressional District in play.”
“As much as we would have preferred to draw a new map like our neighbors in Tennessee, the legal constraints created by Allen v. Milligan make that impossible today. Any other course of action would have all but guaranteed Alabama sends two Democrats to Congress at a time when control of the U.S. House could be decided by only a handful of seats – an outcome that our country cannot afford. Alabama has done its part in helping President Trump maintain a republican Congress, and we will continue fighting to ensure that our elections are decided by Alabamians, not activist judges.”
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