Voters in rural Alabama will cast historic votes this November. It’s the first time residents in the newly redrawn Congressional District Two will pick their member of the U.S. House. It took a fight before the U.S. Supreme Court to create the new map to better represent African Americans in Congress. The concern now is over ongoing legal challenges that could flip the map back to a majority of white voters who lean conservative. The APR news team has spent the last nine months looking into issues surrounding the new District Two. Here’s how it all began and where it’s going…
“We’ll be getting started in about five minutes…” That was the five-minute warning from the front of the Holiday Inn in downtown Mobile, Alabama. The breakfast buffet is at the back.
“I have a lot of family who are, in my opinion, like grassroots on the ground boots, you know,” said Jordan Stalworth. His family is from Conecuh County. “Walking the streets basically, make sure everybody wanted to vote and all.”
Conecuh is a rural county. It’s northeast of Mobile, and southwest of the State Capital of Montgomery. The county is perhaps best known for Conecuh sausage, a staple on most Alabama breakfast tables. Stalworth says his family likes to talk politics, just not when they’re eating…
“Well, I wouldn't say around the breakfast table or around lunchtime, but no, they really did care,” Stalworth observed.
And, now the Stalworths have more to chew on than the sausage named for their home county. Jordan among the roughly one third of Alabama’s population that’s African American. Despite those numbers, the State has only one district in the U.S. House drawn to represent black voters. That may change following Allen versus Milligan.
“I just feel like as an Alabamian, and as a black Alabamian, I know there's work that needs to be done” said Shelela Dowdy. The work she’s referring to is the court case that redrew Alabama’s Congressional map.
“I'm just, you know, doing the work that needs to be done, utilizing my voice,” she said. “You don't need a political seat to always do that. You can be a regular, average citizen.”
A regular average citizen maybe, but Dowdy was also one of the plaintiffs whose case went before the U.S. Supreme Court. And in June of last year, Dowdy’s side won. She was a featured speaker during today’s meeting. The northwest quarter of Mobile County is in the new Congressional District Two. Allen versus Milligan challenged an older voting map that critics say tilted power toward white Republicans. Some are cheering the Supreme Court ruling. But, not everyone…
“There is some sense of, oh my god, like all of this that's going on,” said Deanna Fowler. She’s the Executive Director of the group Alabama Forward. Fowler is in charge of today’s meeting to gather community activists to get out the vote in Mobile.
“I think, given where we are in the country right now, this next phase is probably going to be tough,” she said.
Fowler is referring to what happens now that the Congressional District map has been redrawn to better represent Black voters. That’s phase one. Phase two is keeping that map.
”I think since then, we've seen a lot from SCOTUS that, you know, makes me a little bit anxious about the way that things could go moving forward, and then within the context of everything else happening in the country, it's going to be interesting, at the very least, to see how things go.”
Fowler’s nightmare scenario goes like this. The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear a follow-up challenge the new district, and the justices flip flop. That could put the older conservative leaning map back in. It’s not just a possibility.
“Evidence is being gathered and reviewed, and the arguments will take place in February of 2025,” said Shalela Dowdy, one of the plaintiffs in Allen versus Milligan. Dowdy’s referring to the Republican lawmakers who prefer the older map that trims black representation in District two by ten percent.
“We have trial February 2025 and we will be focused on the map that the legislation latest legislators drew last summer of 2023 that was only 39% black. And so the whole court case will be sitting around that right now,” she said.
While Dowdy gears up for that new court battle, Deanna Fowler is working on another front. She says one key to keeping District Two off the chopping block is showing that redrawing the map wasn’t a mistake.
“If we can show that, you know, voices that had not been represented before, those those communities really turned out when they had an opportunity to, in their minds, really be heard through their vote,” Fowler said.
And that means taking Alabama Forward’s political show on the road the very next day. It’s Saturday morning. Alabama Forward packed up and left the Holiday Inn and moved two blocks east to Mardi Gras park in Mobile. The bells chime at Christ Church Cathedral as Fowler and her team trade their business attire for t-shirts and sneakers.
They’re setting up for Alabama Forward’s latest get-out-the-vote-rally. It’s nine a.m. and already eighty two degrees outside. Fowler says it’ll be in the mid-nineties before onlookers start to trickle in.
“Even if they're not really big on politics, even if they've never voted before, are skeptical, skeptical of, you know, our democratic process, you know, empowering them to get involved In some way, whatever way, really works for them,” said Fowler.
And that effort includes some show biz. Today’s rally includes food trucks, vendors selling vintage clothes, and oh by the way, reminding people to vote. There’s also music… lots of music --
The Magnolia Breeze drumline has been featured on APR before. Many of the performers, between the ages of five and nineteen years old, are too young to vote in November. But many of the visitors making their way from one tent to the next will be able to cast a ballot. Some of the people we talked to seem sort of interested in the new District Two, then there’s Herman Thomas…
“I try to stay aware of what's going on,” he said.
Not only is Thomas braving the mid-afternoon heat today. Be he also sat through yesterday’s community meeting at the Holiday Inn…
“I thought that was interesting to listen to them and talk about some of the issues involving their involvement in their community, and send them some statewide issues,” said Thomas.
For Alabama Forward, Herman Thomas seems signed, sealed, and delivered for November.
“I see a lot of dancing and a lot of music going around. So I'm here to enjoy all of that in the community,” said Kiara McCants, who came for the show. She heard about today’s rally from a friend.
“I want to learn a lot. I see a lot of dancing and a lot of music going around. So I'm here to enjoy all of that in the community,” said McCants.
Deanna Fowler hopes Thomas, McCants, and everyone today goes away with more than buttons and bumper stickers. She says the answer to one personal question would be good…
“I think just a question of why they should vote if they don't like the candidates or they, you know, they're not excited about what they see on the ballot,” she said.
And that includes voters in Alabama’s new District Two in the U.S. House…
“But I would say yeah, definitely more wait and see,” said Jordan Stalworth at the start of our story. His family lives in rural Conecuh County in the middle of the district two. He says people are already wondering what the new House member they pick in November will do for them…
“Well, them mainly talking about the roads right now and all that, but that's more of a city thing. I'm still very new on that one also. So I can't give you too many answers on the broadband,” he said.
Up to this point, if African American voters in Alabama needed help, there’s one person in Congress they would typically call.
“I was shocked that the Milligan case was a five, four decision in favor of fair representation,” said U.S. House member Terri Sewell.
She’s Alabama only Democrat in Congress, and the only African American. That is, so far—maybe. A day in the life of Terri Sewell is next time.
Part 2— "A day in the life of Terri Sewell"
Voters in rural Alabama will cast historic votes this November. It’s the first time residents in the newly redrawn Congressional District two will pick their member of the U.S. House. It took a fight before the U.S. Supreme Court to create the new map to better represent African Americans in Congress. That’s what the high court seems to want. Now, let’s look at how things are and the impact that has on Terri Sewell. She’s the only Congressional Democrat in Alabama and the only African American…
“Everybody hear me? Can you hear me?” says Amanda Lopez. She’s a tour guide in a red coat. Lopez is checking the earphones worn by today’s group of visitors.
“You can’t hear me? Let me see…” she says.
Lopez needs a microphone to be heard. An average of ten thousand people crowd this spot every day. And the rotunda inside the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. creates an echo.
“But today, you see the room is filled with statues. There are about 35 state statues in this room. We the collection started in 1864, and over time, it's expanded,” said Capitol Communication specialist Jessica Wall.
I don’t need earphones as I head into Statuary Hall. My guide Jessica Wall used to be a tour guide, red coat and all. She works in the Capitol Communication Office now. She and I are just a few steps ahead of today onslaught of tourists.
“So you have chief Standing Bear of Nebraska. You have Thomas Edison from Ohio,” Wall pointed out.
I’m here to interview Alabama U.S. House member Terri Sewell. That’s a few hours away, so I stopped by the Capitol to see where she works. During our visit to statuary hall, Jessica Wall explains the rules on which sculptures get in
“You can pick someone born in your state, or someone who moved your state and did something important. So if anyone from New Jersey is listening and they're like, Wait, Edison, Ohio, it's okay, send us Frank Sinatra,” said Wall.
It’s clear Wall likes what she does. Especially when she talks about the hidden messages in these works of art…
“So the pedestal that President Reagan is standing on, you see those little rocky pieces. Those are pieces of the Berlin Wall,” she said.
Everything here is meant to capture a perfect moment. The statue of Abraham Lincoln stands near a brass plaque on the floor. It marks where he sat as a member of the U.S. House. Speaking of which…
“Our military's focus should be the protection of the American people and our freedoms, not liberals feelings,” said Republican Ralph Norman of South Carolina as thing got gritty on the House floor not far from Statuary Hall. The subject is the 2025 Defense Department Budget.
“Therefore, my amendment would eliminate any offices of DEI Diversity Equity and Inclusion in the armed forces, and then the DOD, we should focus on diversity of ideas and opinions, not races and genders," he added.
Norman’s not the only House member with an opinion on this.
“The gentlewoman from Alabama is recognized for two minutes…” said the presiding officer.
That gentlewoman is Terri Sewell. She’s the only Democrat in Alabama’s U.S. House delegation.
“But once again, Republicans are pushing poison pill amendments into our bipartisan defense bill focusing more on culture wars and division than on our national security,” said Sewell from the floor.
“You know, I have been in Congress gratefully for the last seven terms, and I've always voted in favor of the defense national defense authorization bill,” said Sewell after the dust settled, and we met with her in her office.
“All these amendments are coming back up from members, and makes it makes it difficult. You know, diversity is our strength, and so the attacks on being woke in the military and attacks against diversity, equity, inclusion, are just vicious and not helpful,” she said.
The day of our interview, Sewell cast her first ever no vote on the Defense budget bill. Fights on the House floor like the one you heard earlier may make the evening news. But, for voters Sewell’s district in Alabama, a lot of the work takes place here. Congressional intern Morgan Patrick mans the phones in Sewell’s office where she represents Alabama’s District seven. That’s in west central part of the State. But, it’s the calls that come from outside the district that’s the point.
“I grew up in Birmingham, and so I'm from the district,” said Robyn Gulley. She works in Sewell’s office, too. “I'm from the congresswoman is my member of Congress, so I'm a constituent and staffer, which is really cool.”
Gulley handles calls from constituents. Once the details are logged, Robyn Gulley goes to work ironing out the problems.
“And one of the things I've noticed, is that for people who live in parts of the for people who live in parts of our state that are not necessarily in the seventh congressional district, there are some of them that consider Congresswoman Sewell as their member of Congress,” Gulley observed.
And Gulley tries to be diplomatic on why an African American voter would call Democrat Terri Sewell for help instead of the white Republican in the district where they live…
“I think, I think that it's a matter of, I definitely think I can say this as a black voter like I think that it is a matter of, we trust you more,” she said.
But, taking calls from people from outside the district can get tricky. Federal agencies don’t technically have to anything if a House member is acting on behalf of someone they don’t represent. Sewell says it points to a bigger problem in Alabama…
“You know what it tells me is that there are not enough Alabamians here in Congress representing those views and those values,” said Representative Sewell. “And so it just means it to me, it just reinforces the reason why we need a second democratic seat in Alabama.”
And, that’s why having a new House member serving in the redrawn District Two is a big deal. Remember that fight over the Pentagon budget? Sewell spoke up because she’s a member of the House Armed Services Committee. She’s also on Ways and Means. Sewell says however wins Alabama’s District two could get something like Appropriations.
“It gives us an opportunity to divide and conquer, to be able to have better representation across the board for the shared values that that we're so, that we are so honored to be able to represent at decision making tables in Washington,” Sewell noted.
Campaign ads are airing to help the election go Terri Sewell’s way. Democrat Shomari Figures is campaigning to win the new District Two seat in the U.S. House. But, Republicans in Alabama are working to upset the political apple cart. There’s a new court challenge to flip District two back to the old map that favored the GOP. Also, Republican Caroleene Dobson is running against Figures. District Two is forty nine percent African American. But, over the summer, Dobson outspent her Democratic opponent three to one. We asked Terri Sewell, what happens if the GOP wins.
“I'd obviously be very disappointed, and I actually think that the Supreme Court would be disappointed at the end of the day,” said Sewell. “What they said was that Alabama should draw another district for fair representation that is either a majority minority district or something quite close to it.
Remember Jessica Wall from our tour of the U.S. Capitol? The day to day work here goes on leading up to the election that will leave Terri Sewell disappointed or not. During our tour with Wall, there were lots of statues and paintings. But, we also paused by a large window overlooking the west side of the Capitol. Construction crews are already busy building the platform where either President elect Harris or Trump will take the oath of office in January. There’s a good chance that House member elect Figueres or Dobson will be among the onlookers.
