Updated May 12, 2026 at 5:23 PM CDT
Alabama's elections just got more complicated.
The state is moving ahead with a special primary election for four of its seven congressional districts, after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Alabama to use a map that had been blocked by the courts.
The move increases the chances of Republicans picking up an extra U.S. House seat.
On Monday, the Supreme Court's conservative majority vacated a lower court decision that had blocked a 2023 congressional map proposal and required the state to include a second largely Black district. The Supreme Court's order, which was opposed by the court's three liberal-leaning justices, came after its recent ruling in a Louisiana redistricting case that weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Following that Louisiana decision, Alabama's Republican leaders sought to revert to the 2023 map proposal that would leave one largely Black, Democratic-leaning congressional district.
"I will continue to say: Alabama knows our state, our people and our districts best," Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, said in a statement Tuesday announcing the special election. "The United States Supreme Court's decision is plain common sense and enables our values to be best represented in Congress."
Ivey scheduled the special election because Alabama's regular primary is next Tuesday, May 19, with absentee voting already under way. She set an Aug. 11 special election for the congressional districts affected by the reversion to the 2023 map: the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th.
The 2nd and 7th districts are held by Black Democrats. The 1st and 6th districts are held by Republicans, and neighbor the 2nd and 7th.
South Carolina state senate rejects move to hold redistricting session
Currently, Republicans led by Trump have gained about an eight seat advantage over Democrats in an unprecedented redistricting push for the midterms, when the party that holds the White House usually loses seats.
But as redistricting appeared to proceed in Alabama, the Republican effort to pick up a House seat in South Carolina suffered a possibly fatal blow Tuesday. The state Senate rejected a proposal to extend the current legislative session and take up the redistricting that President Trump has called for repeatedly.
Primary voting in South Carolina starts in two weeks but the Republican-led state House was advancing a new map that could have helped their party win the state's one Democratic-held U.S. House district. It's represented by Rep. Jim Clyburn.
But the Senate vote to extend the session was just short of the two-thirds majority needed with several Republicans joining Democrats to oppose it.
Some Republicans there have said they worry that trying to eliminate the one Democratic-leaning district would make safe Republican seats more vulnerable. Republican Gov. Henry McMaster could still call the legislature into a special session but he has been deferring to the legislature to make the decision.
Meanwhile in Missouri, the state supreme court affirmed the GOP-led redistricting aimed at flipping one Democratic-held seat. The court ruled that a public initiative to put the question on the ballot would not stop the new map from taking effect this fall.
Louisiana's Republican Gov. Jeff Landry suspended a primary with voting already underway to redistrict there. In Alabama, the primaries are now split on different schedules with Gov. Ivey praising the possible partisan gain.
"Alabamians now have another opportunity to send strong voices to Washington to fight for our values, and I encourage them to get out and vote in this special primary election on August 11," Ivey said. "I also urge them to head to the polls this coming Tuesday, May 19 to vote in all other races."
Voting rights groups have asked a federal court to keep the current congressional map in place, writing in a filing: "Alabama's attempt to revert to its 2023 map—a map that was never implemented and under which no one has ever voted—when this election is already underway, absentee ballots have been mailed, and every relevant deadline under state and federal law has long since passed, is contrary to the public interest."
The unique split primaries in Alabama come as other GOP-led states, such as Louisiana and South Carolina, also weigh dismantling majority-Black districts in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision on the Voting Rights Act.
NPR's Larry Kaplow contributed to this story.
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