MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The new contests for Alabama State Senate Districts 25 and 26 are finally set after a month of court action, voided primary results and voter confusion.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week granted the state of Alabama a stay against a district court’s injunction mandating that the state use a court-drawn map instead of the one drawn by the Alabama Legislature after the 2020 census.
A court had previously ruled that the 2021 map illegally diluted the influence of Black voters around the capital city of Montgomery. But after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in April in Louisiana v. Callais, the state made an appeal to revisit the State Senate maps.
Successful in the end, the state of Alabama changed its State Senate map in the middle of an election cycle after voters had already cast their ballots. Gov. Kay Ivey then voided those results and called a special primary election for the two districts.
But it turns out no primary was needed: only three candidates qualified with their respective parties between the two districts before qualifying closed on Tuesday.
Democratic incumbent Sen. Kirk Hatcher of Montgomery will run for reelection in District 26 with no challengers from either party. He has essentially punched his ticket for another four years in the State House.
Before the most recent court action, Hatcher and District 25 incumbent Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Pike Road, had swapped and had been running in each other’s districts to remain with their current constituents.
Now that the state is using the 2021 map, they’re both running for reelection in the districts they currently represent in the Senate.
Barfoot will now take on Democrat Phadra Carson Foster in the District 25 general election.
Foster, an educator, had been running in the district all along and requalified after the court decision. She came in second place in that original three-person primary, earning 24% of the vote. Hatcher easily won that now-nullified contest with 55% of the vote.
Ivey had scheduled the special primary for the two districts for Aug. 11 alongside the congressional special primary. Because none of the State Senate candidates have opponents in their own party, only congressional races will be on the ballot.
The general election is Nov. 3.