MONTGOMERY — Members of the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee passed legislation by State Sen. Pro-Tem Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) on Tuesday that would require a special election for certain primary elections if a U.S. Supreme Court redistricting ruling outlaws race-based redistricting.
SCOTUS reheardLouisiana v. Callais in October. The case addresses racial considerations in Louisiana's congressional redistricting and could significantly impact Alabama and other states involved in similar lawsuits.
However, under Alabama’s current qualifying schedule for the primary on May 19, a SCOTUS ruling will most likely come after candidate qualifying for 2026 has already closed.
State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) said at the committee meeting on Tuesday, “It would require the holding of a special primary if a court order is issued, required, or allowed for the changing of a congressional or state legislative district at a point in time too late to be accommodated in a normal primary schedule.”
“It creates an additional window of approximately 100 days. It only requires that a special primary (be held) in the affected district and it requires any special primary to be completed by September 1st,” Elliott said. “The bill will allow more flexibility to adjust or return to the original districts post-ruling from the Supreme Court in the Louisiana case while we wait on that ruling. If there’s any change there, it allows us some flexibility to deal with what that change may be.”
Gudger’s bill would require a new special primary election to be held "if: (i) the boundaries of one or more legislative or congressional districts to be used in the next general election are changed or altered by either an act of the Legislature or by final order, judgment, or mandate from a state or federal court which permits or requires the use of legislative or congressional district boundaries, and (ii) the change or alteration is made at a time too late to be accommodated during the normal primary election schedule. This bill would specify that the special primary election would only affect those districts impacted by the redistricting.”
A federal court changed Alabama’s congressional map by court order before the 2024 elections. The change led to Democrats picking up a seat in Alabama with the election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Mobile). U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco also changed Alabama’s State Senate map in a ruling before the 2026 election.
Gudger has said his bill is about fairness.
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