Alabama calls special session to ram thru gerrymander before midterms

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) called a special session Friday to redraw congressional and legislative maps. It makes Alabama the first state to formally launch a process to gerrymander after the Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act.

The move is likely to throw the state’s primary election, for which it has already mailed out ballots, into chaos. It could give the GOP all seven of the state’s congressional seats — up from the five it currently holds.

Ivey’s proclamation directs lawmakers to convene Monday and explicitly authorizes legislation to adjust district lines and hold new special primary elections — a clear signal that Alabama officials are preparing to implement new gerrymanders ahead of the 2026 midterms.

Ivey also made clear the move is directly tied to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

“The U.S. Supreme Court issued a positive decision in the Louisiana v. Callais case, which I said was encouraging for our own pending litigation. I also acknowledged that Alabama’s redistricting battle is not over,” Ivey said. “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.”

Alabama has been locked in a yearslong legal battle over its congressional map, with courts previously requiring the creation of an additional district where Black voters have an opportunity to elect their preferred candidates.

The state is now asking the Supreme Court to revisit that dispute — and the special session suggests officials are preparing for a favorable ruling.

While no new map has been released, any redraw is likely to eliminate districts where Black voters have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice — the central issue in Alabama’s ongoing redistricting fight.

Ivey said she expects the legislature “to address this call in fast order and be completed within five days.”

The compressed timeline underscores how aggressively Alabama is moving to put new maps in place just months before the 2026 elections.

The rush on redistricting is already drawing pushback from voting rights advocates, who warn that changing district lines mid-election could create widespread confusion.

In a filing to the Supreme Court, Black voters urged justices to reject Alabama’s request to fast-track the case, noting that absentee voting for the state’s upcoming primary has already begun.

They warned the court not to “write a ‘prescription for chaos’ in Alabama’s already-underway primary election,” arguing that the 2026 election cycle is too far along to redraw districts without disrupting voters.

Alabama’s move comes as other Republican-led states, including Louisiana and Tennessee, are also exploring redistricting following Callais.

Louisiana has already suspended its congressional primaries to redraw maps, while Tennessee Republicans are pushing to eliminate the state’s last Democratic congressional district centered in Memphis.