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.
