Democrat Rhetoric Over Alabama’s Redistricting Fight Heats Up
Democrats and others opposed to redrawing Alabama's congressional districts are becoming more organized and vocal. Because the current legislative special session was hastily called by Gov. Ivey, yesterday's rally against redistricting was thrown together at the last moment. Both, a town hall last night and a rally this morning were more organized and focused.
West Alabama Congresswoman Terri Sewell was the main sponsor of the "Rally for Fair Representation" protest at the statehouse this morning. She was joined by state lawmakers and representatives of various voting rights organizations.
Today's event is a follow-on to a town hall conducted by Sewell last night at Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham. The event was headlined by New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, that state's first black senator.
“I don’t care what your party is, what your ethnic background is. You know that democracy means representation,” Booker told the crowd of several thousand. “If your voice is erased or diluted, you know that that is an anti-democratic force.”
Booker was introduced by former Alabama U.S. Senator Doug Jones who is running for the Democrat gubernatorial nomination, who described what is ahead. “It is a perfect storm. We have got a fight on our hands. We have seen this plan in Alabama before, and we don’t like it.”
After the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Louisiana could not use race as the deciding factor in their redistricting, Alabama Republican leaders such as Attorney General Steve Marshall have made it plain that the plan for the special session is to do away with the majority-minority congressional districts and turn them to solid red.
"I'm going to do everything in my power to give the legislature an opportunity to draw seven Congressional Republican districts," Marshall stated in a social media post.
Sewell told last night's townhall, she wants the legislature to show fairness and to protect minority representation in whatever they do. “What the court did makes it easier for bad actors, bad state actors, to silence the voices of Black voters and harder to challenge those discriminations,” Sewell said. “Courts have given permission to use partisan gerrymandering as a wholesale excuse to deny minority and Black voters. And the message is simple: We will not step back.”
2nd District Congressman Shomari Figures, whose district was created by a federally drawn map to create a second majority-minority district in Alabama, stands to lose that majority if the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals allows Alabama to redistrict "Blacks are more than a quarter of Alabama's population and deserve to have leadership that looks like the State of Alabama," he told the crowd. He said Republicans want to return the state leadership to what it looked like years ago before the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Redistricting legislation introduced on yesterday's first special session day have received committee approval in both chambers. Both chambers met briefly then adjourned as lawmakers await word as to whether the 11th circuit will allow redistricting before 2030. They have asked the court to render a decision by Friday, the last day of the special session.
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