On Thursday's broadcast of Mobile radio's FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," former Alabama Republican Party chairman and candidate for lieutenant governor John Wahl reaffirmed his support for transitioning Alabama's congressional map to a 7-0 conservative-dominated layout.
Wahl pushed for it to be an immediate move and said he would work "in lock step" with U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn), the favorite to be the next governor.
"I'm going to be honest, I want to come back immediately in the session of 2027 and get our maps to 7-0," Wahl told show host Jeff Poor. "There is no reason to wait. There's no reason to compromise. I know Tommy Tuberville has come out on that, and I'm firmly in support of him. I'd love to stand in lock step with him as lieutenant governor and make sure we get that across the finish line, and we make sure the people of Alabama have Republican representatives in Washington, D.C."
He added, "This is a super majority Republican state, and I think they should have Republican representation. So that's the one thing where I think we do have to come back and correct that. We need a 7-0 map in Alabama, and that's something that I'm definitely going to be strongly in support of."
Wahl argued for transitioning to a 7-0 Republican map as quickly as "legally possible" but noted the significance of securing a 6-1 map at the very least.
"I think we are past the timeframe where we could do 7-0 right now," he said. "I don't like to go back and look at the past. I like to be positive and look for the future, and the important thing now is that we get 6-1 in place. Make sure we have those elections, we run them properly, and then, as soon as legally possible with the time frames and the constraints, that we do get 7-0 at the end of the day."
"That's the important thing, is that we get the job done," Wahl concluded.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a race-based federal court-ordered Alabama congressional map from 2023. The ruling could lead to two liberal leaning congressional districts in the state being redrawn, creating the possibility of a new map in Alabama devoid of racial factors and dominated 7-0 by Republicans.
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