Friday, May 22 — By sundown the Republican field is locked

THE FIELD LOCKS TONIGHT

The Alabama Republican Party's "Special Congressional Election Qualified Candidates" page, last updated Thursday evening, shows three Republicans in AL-02 for the August 11 special primary:

- Hampton Harris — the first-mover in this district. The Republican who built infrastructure for District 2 before the Supreme Court made District 2 the contested seat. The only candidate in the field who did not need a map change to know where he was running. - State Rep. Rhett Marques (HD-91, Enterprise) — suspended his AL-01 campaign and filed in AL-02 after the May 11 ruling. Coffee County, his HD-91 base, is inside AL-02 under the 2023 map. Endorsed by U.S. Senator Katie Britt. - Joshua McKee (Robertsdale, Baldwin County) — retired U.S. Army Green Beret. Suspended his AL-01 campaign on May 12, twenty-four hours after the Supreme Court ruled, and filed in AL-02.

After 5:00 PM today no candidate joins the Republican field. After 5:00 PM today no candidate leaves it. The August 11 ballot will carry whoever is on the list at sundown.

One reminder of the rule: Alabama congressional special primaries are decided by plurality. There is no runoff between August 11 and November 3. Whoever wins the most Republican votes on August 11 is the Republican nominee for the November general election. That is the entire contest.

DAY 65 — THE SILENCE HAS NOW LASTED LONGER THAN THE FEDERAL RESPONSE

Sunday May 17 the Fresenius Kidney Care center on East Martin Luther King Highway in Tuskegee closed permanently. Five days have now passed. Roughly fifty Macon County dialysis patients are driving thirty miles round trip, three times each week, to Tallassee or Auburn or Union Springs.

The figures.house.gov press releases page this morning carries no closure-day statement. None on Sunday. None Monday. None Tuesday. None Wednesday. None Thursday. The most recent statement on this closure remains the press release out of Washington dated March 18 — sixty-five days ago, before the closure happened.

What has been issued on the closure since the March 18 release: - No federal legislation introduced on rural dialysis access. - No federal appropriations request named publicly. - No site visit to Tuskegee on the public record — not before the closure, not on the day of the closure, not in the five days since. - No town hall in Tuskegee. - No successor operator publicly identified.

Day 65. The patients are still on the road. The follow-up has still not arrived.

TWO COLUMNS — WHAT THE COURT-APPOINTED INCUMBENT SAYS ABOUT DISTRICT 2 / WHAT THE COURT-APPOINTED INCUMBENT IS DOING FOR DISTRICT 2

What He Says | What He Is Doing

March 18, 2026 press release: the Tuskegee | Sixty-five days later, no follow-up release, no closure "will leave a tremendous gap in the | closure-day statement, no site visit on the public health care system in Macon County." | record.

May 7, 2026 Montgomery town hall: told roughly | The Supreme Court lifted the injunction four 100 attendees he did not expect the Supreme | days later, on May 11. Court to lift the injunction before 2030. |

Lagniappe, May 14, 2026: "staying in AL-2, | Eleven days after the SCOTUS ruling reshaped the district, no public statement on whether he is running for re-election under the new map.

Public statements on the Macon County dialysis | Public statements on the Macon County dialysis closure: one, on March 18. | closure since the closure happened: zero.

THE WILCOX PARALLEL KEEPS HOLDING

Wilcox County's Fresenius closure on March 20 is the parallel case. Two rural-Alabama Black Belt dialysis closures, two Democratic congressional incumbents, two press releases at announcement, zero substantive public follow-up at or after closure. The pattern is not specific to one office or one district. It is the pattern of a politics that issues releases instead of delivering results.

WHAT DISTRICT 2 VOTERS CAN DO THIS WEEKEND

- Watch the field lock tonight. Check ALGOP's qualified-candidates page after 5:00 PM Central. Whoever is on the list at sundown is the August 11 Republican field. - Read the Saturday morning coverage. Lagniappe, Alabama Daily News, the Alabama Reflector, and AL.com will publish their first "field set" pieces over the weekend. Read all four. The early framing of the race shapes the next two months. - Tell the Tuskegee story. Day 65 is the fact. Patients on the road three times a week is the fact. No federal follow-up is the fact. Carry it. - Mark the calendar. Eighty-one days to August 11. One hundred and sixty-five days to November 3.

KEY DATES AHEAD

- Today, Friday May 22 at 5:00 PM Central — qualifying for the August 11 special primary closes; the Republican field locks for the rest of the cycle. - Saturday May 23 — first wave of post-qualifying media coverage. - Tuesday June 16 — statewide GOP runoffs (Senate, PSC Place 2, Lt. Governor, Ag Commissioner). Turnout patterns in Mobile and the Wiregrass on that day are an early indicator for August 11. - Tuesday August 11 — AL-02 special primary. Plurality wins. No runoff. The August 11 winner is the Republican nominee on November 3. - Tuesday November 3, 2026 — general election. The day District 2 takes the seat back.