MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Longtime legislative leader Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, says he’s considering a congressional run next year in District 7, currently held by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham.
“I’m thinking about it. I’m putting together an exploratory committee right now,” Singleton told Alabama Daily News on Tuesday. “I’m not running in the new district (District 2), I’m running in Congresswoman Sewell’s, that’s what I want, I want the big fish.”
His comments this week come as it’s more clear the state will have two congressional districts where Black voters constitute a majority or close to it. A special master on Monday gave a federal court three options for increasing the Black voter population in District 2, currently held by Republican Barry Moore, while also keeping District 7 in the Black Belt, held by Sewell, majority minority.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied the state’s request to allow it to use next year the congressional map lawmakers and Gov. Kay Ivey approved in July. The three-judge panel earlier this month said Alabama lawmakers deliberately defied their directive to create a second majority-Black congressional district or something close to it.
Singleton, who has a law degree from Miles College, is the current Senate minority leader and has been in the chamber since 2005. He previously served one term in the Alabama House. His Senate district includes Choctaw, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Sumter counties and portions of Tuscaloosa County.
Sewell, originally from Selma, is in her seventh term in Congress and currently serves on the House Ways and Means Committee. Sewell won reelection in 2022 with 63.5% of the vote.
The 2024 primary is March 5.