Alabama Republicans reject calls for the second majority-Black district in redrawing congressional districts.
Lawmakers must adopt a new map by Friday after the high court in June affirmed a three-judge panel’s ruling that Alabama’s existing congressional map — with a single Black district out of seven statewide — likely violated the Voting Rights Act.
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In a state where more than one in four residents are Black, the lower court panel ruled in 2022 that Alabama should have another majority-Black congressional district or something “close to it” so Black voters can “elect a representative of their choice.”
Republicans, who have been resistant to creating a particular Democratic district, proposed a map that would increase the percentage of Black voters in the 2nd congressional district from about 30% to nearly 42.5%, wagering that will satisfy the court’s directive.
House Speaker Pro Tempore Chris Pringle, co-chairman of the state redistricting committee, said the proposal complies with the order to provide a district where Black voters have the “opportunity to elect the representative of their choice.”
“The goal here, for me, was to provide an opportunity for African-Americans to be elected to Congress in the second congressional district,” Pringle said.
However, the National Redistricting Foundation, one of the groups that backed challenges to the Alabama map, called the proposal “shameful” and said it would be challenged.
“It is clear that Alabama Republicans are not serious about doing their job and passing a compliant map, even in light of a landmark Supreme Court decision,” said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Redistricting Foundation.
She called that a pattern seen throughout the state’s history “where a predominately white and Republican legislature has never done the right thing on its own, but rather has had to be forced to do so by a court.”
The Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment approved the proposal in a 14-6 vote that fell along party lines.
The proposal was introduced as legislation Monday afternoon as lawmakers convened a special session to adopt a new map by a Friday deadline set by the three-judge panel. House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter said he believes the new district will be a swing district that could elect either a Democratic candidate or a Republican.
“I think that the models will show that it could go either way, probably. I think all the court’s asked for was a fair chance. I certaintly think that map does it. I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Ledbetter said.
Democrats accused Republicans of rushing the process and thwarting the court’s directive.
Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, a Democrat from Mobile, said the court was clear that the state should create a second majority-Black district or something close to it.
“Forty-two percent is not close to 50. In my opinion 48, 49 is close to 50,” Figures said. She had urged colleagues to adopt a proposal by the plaintiffs in the Supreme Court case that would make the 2nd district 50% Black.
Under the Republican plan, the state would continue to have one majority Black district, which Rep. Terri Sewell now represents. The Black voting age population of that district would drop from about 55% to 51.6%
Rep. Chris England, a Democrat from Tuscaloosa, said he also doesn’t think the GOP proposal would satisfy the court’s directive. He told Republican lawmakers to push through their proposal without a public hearing or producing an analysis of the district’s partisan leanings.
