MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Mixing stump speeches about the importance of voting with the sounds of rap and R&B music, more than 3,000 people gathered at Alabama State University in Montgomery on the eve of the midterm elections to “turn up the vote.”
Alabama Democrats – including gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones, Alabama Democratic Party Chair Bobby Singleton, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed and U.S. Reps. Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell – took to the stage at the Dunn-Oliver Acadome to urge the primarily Black crowd made up of many university students to go to the polls Tuesday.
They repeated the chant, “when we vote, we win,” underscoring to the crowd what’s at stake in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Food stamps, grocery prices, gas prices and student loan rates are on the ballot Tuesday, the speakers said. In an election cycle dominated by the issue of affordability, the candidates and elected officials promised that a vote for Democrats is a vote for change.
The rally’s volume reached 95 decibels at times, with loud cheers for both the Democratic candidates and musical headliners Lil Baby and King George. Let It Resound, which is funded by the Rolling Sea Action Fund PAC, hosted the event.
Jones, who faces an uphill battle in the governor’s race against Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville, entered the stage to his de facto anthem, Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How to Dougie.”
“Just for you, just for you, I embarrass the hell out of myself,” Jones said as he hit the namesake dance move, which has been a hallmark of his campaign’s social media presence.
Jones preached a message of hope, calling Tuesday a “historic opportunity to move this state forward” that “doesn’t come around often.” He promised that if he is elected, every Alabamian will have a voice in the governor’s mansion.
“I am up here because I believe in you. I am up here because I believe in everyone in this auditorium,” Jones said. “I am here because I believe the future is bright with all of you, but I also believe that your vote is for change. So when I say ‘vote,’ you say ‘we change.’ Let’s get out and vote, and let’s change Alabama for the good. We can do it.”
The speakers told the crowd that people are expecting young people to stay at home but that if everyone gets out to vote, change is possible.
Talking about how young people made a difference in the civil rights movement, longtime activist Sheyann Webb-Christburg urged young people to make change by getting out to the polls and casting their ballots.
“People still are not exercising that right to vote,” Webb-Christburg said. “So let me say to you today, we all are standing at a critical time and a critical crossroad in America, and I must say to you that voting rights are being chipped away, access is being restricted and apathy is convincing many of our young people that your vote doesn’t count. Your vote counts. Every vote counts. Every voice matters.”
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana v. Callais that gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act and the subsequent redistricting were cited by several speakers as a central reason why young and Black voters need to go to the polls on Tuesday.
“We’re counting on you to turn out in record numbers to save our representation,” Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels said.
The rally took place in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, one of the districts that became more friendly to Republicans after the state reverted to a 2023 congressional map that a federal court previously ruled illegally diluted the impact of Black voters. The U.S. Supreme Court later overturned that ruling,
AL-2 incumbent Congressman Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, is fighting hard for reelection against state Rep. Rhett Marques, R-Enterprise, in what has become one of Alabama’s most competitive contests on the ballot Tuesday.
Figures was the final speaker to address the crowd before rapper Lil Baby took the stage. He told the crowd of young voters they have to show up because their votes impact their future and the things that matter most to them.
“I say we gotta stop just talking about you and start talking to you,” Figures said. “I say we gotta give you a reason to believe in people and believe that government can actually work the way it’s supposed to work for you. So, Montgomery, do you need a reason? Let me ask you this: Is gas too high? Are groceries too high? Is tuition too high? Is rent too high? That’s why you should vote.”
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.