Gov. Kay Ivey (R-AL) issued a proclamation on Friday calling state lawmakers to hold a special legislative session reserved for redistricting next week and to reschedule the May 19 primary election.
Alabama is the latest red state to consider redrawing its congressional districts in light of a landmark Supreme Court decision that struck down race-based redistricting in Louisiana.
“During this special session, I have called on the Legislature to address legislation to provide for a special primary election for electing members of the U.S. House of Representatives and the Alabama State Senate in districts whose boundary lines are altered by court action,” Ivey said.
“I expect the Legislature to address this call in fast order and be completed within five days,” she added. The special session is slated to start on Monday.
Alabama is currently under a federal court order banning the use of new congressional maps through mid-decade redistricting until after the 2030 census. But Ivey is hopeful that the Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais will bode well for her state’s case.
Shortly after the ruling, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed emergency motions with the Supreme Court to take up the state’s redistricting case. Ivey said the move prompted her to call a special session of the state legislature.
“By calling the Legislature into a special session, I am ensuring Alabama is prepared should the courts act quickly enough to allow Alabama’s previously drawn congressional and state senate maps to be used during this election cycle,” she wrote in the proclamation. “If the court-ordered injunction is lifted, Alabama would revert to the maps drawn by the Legislature for congressional districts in 2023 and state senate districts in 2021.”
The Alabama Republican Party praised Ivey for calling back lawmakers to take up redrawing the state’s congressional map.
“This ruling reinforced what we have long argued — that redistricting should be guided by fair, constitutional principles and not driven by race,” Alabama GOP Chairman and state Rep. Scott Stadthagen said. “We remain confident that the courts will apply the Callais decision to Alabama’s case and that the map enacted by the people’s representatives in the Legislature will ultimately prevail.”
BRIAN KEMP RULES OUT GEORGIA REDISTRICTING BEFORE MIDTERM ELECTIONS
Louisiana is suspending its House primaries, scheduled for May 16, to give lawmakers time to consider GOP-led redistricting. Tennessee is also moving toward redistricting, President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday after speaking with Gov. Bill Lee (R-TN).
Meanwhile, Georgia is not planning to redraw congressional district boundaries this year because Gov. Brian Kemp (R-GA) thought doing so would cut too close to the state’s May 19 primary. Early voting for that election already started this week. However, Kemp is keeping the door open to redistricting for the 2028 election cycle before he leaves office at the start of next year.