Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey took her state a step closer to redrawing its congressional lines on Friday, following the Supreme Court’s decision earlier this week to limit enforcement of the Voting Rights Act.
Ivey called a special legislative session on Friday to take up redistricting days ahead of the state’s May 19 primary, joining Louisiana in their bid to eliminate majority-Black districts in their respective states in time for the midterms.
Alabama currently has two majority-Black, Democratic-leaning districts, following a surprise 2023 Supreme Court decision that largely upheld the Voting Rights Act and subsequent lower court orders mandating the current map in the state.
But in a statement, the Republican governor said the state — in light of Wednesday’s decision largely gutting the VRA — has filed an emergency motion with the Supreme Court, and that she is calling the special session to give Alabama a greater chance of drawing new lines for November.
Ivey scheduled the special session for Monday.
“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,” Ivey said.
The Alabama governor said she expects the special session to be completed within five days.
The state’s Republican legislative leadership praised Ivey’s decision and said they plan to “set a contingency plan” for the state’s congressional primaries, even as they acknowledged the uncertainty surrounding the court cooperating with their preferred timeline.
It’s not immediately clear what map would be under consideration for November. Ivey said that if the previous court orders were lifted, the state would revert to a map passed in 2023, which had one majority-Black — and majority-Democratic — seat and six GOP-leaning seats.
But legislative leaders suggested they could push for a clean sweep of the delegation.
“While there are no guarantees that Alabama’s now unlawful, court mandated roadblock will be removed in time, we have a responsibility to give our state a fighting chance to send seven Republican members to Congress,” Alabama House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter and Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger Jr. said in a joint statement.
Alabama’s redistricting push is the latest domino in the chain reaction stemming from the court’s landmark decision to gut the VRA.
Republicans throughout the South have openly called for their states to draw new lines ahead of November to give their party a greater chance of holding onto the House.
But not every Southern state is accelerating their redistricting push. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on Friday that his state will not draw new districts ahead of the midterms but likely would do so before 2028.
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