Sen. Robert Stewart, D-Selma, holding a photo of his aunt, who he said marched on "Bloody Sunday" in 1965, on the floor of the Alabama Senate on May 8, 2026, in Montgomery, Alabama. The Alabama Legislature Friday gave final approval to two bills that would set new primary elections in some congressional and legislative districts in the state if the federal courts allow officials to use maps previously declared discriminatory against Black voters. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
The Alabama Legislature Friday gave final approval to legislation that would set new primary elections for a handful of congressional districts and two Montgomery-area state Senate districts if a federal court allows the state to use maps it has ruled was discriminatory against Black voters.
The House Friday approved SB 1, sponsored by Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, authorizes a special primary election for Alabama Senate Districts 25 and 26 near the state capital. The bill passed on a 75-29 vote.
A few hours later, the Senate passed HB 1, sponsored by Rep. Chris Pringle, R-Mobile which would allow new primaries for certain congressional districts in the state if the U.S. Supreme Court agrees to lift an injunction against the state redrawing its congressional lines until 2030.
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Both bills passed after an often-emotional debate that invoked Alabama’s history of segregation and voter disenfranchisement and amid protests in the House gallery.
“And I know we are going to redistrict here at some point, and we are going to look at some of the Census data, and you are going to look at some of the people in this room, you are going to look at me in the face, you are going to shake my hand, say everything nice, and you are going to redraw my district so I can’t come back,” said Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa.
The session came after the Alabama Attorney General’s Office filed a challenge to a court order last year banning the state from changing its congressional district lines before 2030 and an appeal of U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco’s finding last year that the shape of the Montgomery-area Senate districts deprived Black residents of proper representation and violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Those moves came after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais last week, which weakened Section 2.
Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bills early Friday afternoon.
“Alabama now stands ready to quickly act, should the courts issue favorable rulings in our ongoing redistricting cases,” the governor said in a statement Friday.
Democrats said they plan to file a lawsuit to challenge the law under a 2022 constitutional amendment that forbids election law changes less than six months before an election. The ACLU of Alabama Friday said in a statement that it planned a lawsuit, noting the opinion in the Callais ruling said it did not affect Alabama’s congressional districts.
“For several years now, the court has been consistent: Alabama violated the 14th Amendment by intentionally discriminating against Black voters in its congressional and legislative maps,” ACLU of Alabama Director JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist said in a statement. “The Callais opinion even agrees.”
House debate
Pringle, who carried SB 1 on the House floor Friday, said the bill “does not specify a primary election.”
“The primaries, under state law, are controlled by the parties,” he said. “The parties decide how they want to arrive at their nominees.”
Pringle stood at the podium for roughly three hours to respond to criticism from Democrats against the motivations of the legislation.
“This is a sad day,” said Rep. Marilyn Lands, D-Huntsville. “We have heard from the people over and over during the public hearings, there have been protests, we have all received calls, and texts, and letters, people have reached out, people have been overwhelmingly against what has happened today.”
Democrats repeatedly criticized SB 1,alleging that it dilutes the Black vote and that it would create confusion for the coming primary election.
Pringle, appearing frustrated with all the attacks, referred to court-ordered elections for the Alabama Legislature in 1983.
“The parties decide, just like the Democratic Party did in 1983 when it went into a closed room and hand-picked its legislative candidates,” Pringle said. “I am giving you the opportunity to for all of you to go back into a room and handpick the candidates, just like the Republicans.”
The allegation prompted a strong response from Democrats.
“Do you not realize that was in 1983 and we are now in 2026?” said Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile. “What year are we in: 2026.”
Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard, said in a news conference that the Legislature passed the bill in violation of Amendment 4 to the Alabama Constitution, approved in 2022.The amendment prohibited the Legislature from passing any bills to change election law in the state within six months of a general election.
“This was a constitutional amendment on the ballot that the citizens of the state of Alabama voted on overwhelmingly because they did not want any chaos to happen leading up to an election cycle,” he said. “We have heard this from the Attorney General’s Office before, we have heard this from the Secretary of State’s Office before, and now, for some reason, they think they can violate our state’s constitution.”
House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said in a news conference following the Democrats that he hopes the courts will reverse the current injunction.
“I applaud the Governor for calling us in and giving us the chance to revisit that,” he said. “What happened here in Montgomery with that seat probably should not have happened to begin with.”
He said it was the Legislature’s job to draw the district lines, “and for the court to interfere with that, and to be honest with you, I thought it was a slap in our face because we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in reapportionment redrawing those lines, and we let an 18-year-old kid send a map in and they took it.”
About an hour into the session, a protest erupted in the House gallery that resulted in Dee Reed of Black Voters Matter getting removed from the building. Democratic state representatives went up to the gallery to intervene.
“However she was treated, it was wrong, unacceptable,” said Rep. Ontario Tillman, D-Bessemer. “She had every right to be here in the people’s house. That is the whole point of this. She has a right to protest. She has the right to use her voice, and that is what she was doing.”
The House recessed amid the protest but resumed debate late Monday morning.
“This is the people’s house and we are discussing issues that are serious,” England said after debate resumed. “People will get emotional when we are talking about representation and engaging in fights we thought we already dealt with.”
Updated at 2:46 p.m. with Gov. Kay Ivey signing the bills and comments from Ivey and the ACLU of Alabama.
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Author: Anna Barrett, Ralph Chapoco