Saturday, May 23 — The qualifying window closed last night at 5:00 PM Central

The qualifying window closed last night at 5:00 PM Central. The Republican field for District 2 is set, and it is bigger than it looked yesterday morning. Six Republicans are on the August 11 ballot: Hampton Harris, Christian Horn, Rhett Marques, David Matthews, Joshua McKee, and James Richardson. Shomari Figures qualified to defend this seat in the final hour. The “for now” is over. He is running. Day 66 since his last word on the Tuskegee closure. Day 6 since the dialysis center shut its doors. Eighty days to the primary that picks the Republican who finishes this.

The field is six, not three

For most of the past week the Republican field looked like a three‑way race: Hampton Harris, Rhett Marques, and Joshua McKee. By 5:00 PM Central yesterday the field had doubled. The Alabama Reflector, Yellowhammer News, and WSFA all reported the full post‑qualifying list within hours of the deadline:

Hampton Harris
Christian Horn
Rhett Marques (State Representative, HD‑91, Enterprise — switched from CD‑1 to CD‑2 on May 11)
David Matthews
Joshua McKee (Robertsdale, Baldwin County — switched from CD‑1 to CD‑2 on May 12)
James Richardson

Six Republicans on the ballot. One Democrat — the incumbent, Shomari Figures. The Alabama Republican Party’s qualified‑candidates page on algop.org has not yet caught up with the late filings and still shows the earlier list; the news outlets that worked the qualifying close last night have the current field.

The August 11 primary is plurality. There is no runoff. Whichever Republican collects the most votes is the nominee who carries District 2 into the November general election. With six names on the ballot the math is different than it was with three. Every vote counted on August 11 is a vote that moves the needle.

Figures is running — the “for now” is over

Shomari Figures qualified to defend AL‑02 in the final hour of the qualifying window yesterday. His statement, in full:

“After careful deliberation, we decided to run in the district that includes the majority of the counties I currently represent, and that provides the best opportunity to continue representing the people of Alabama.”

The Lagniappe quote from May 14 — “staying in AL‑2, for now” — can be retired. He is staying. He is running for re‑election. The district he is running to represent is the same district whose dialysis center closed six days ago without a follow‑up statement from him.

That is the choice that lands on the August 11 ballot, and on the November 3 ballot after it. A six‑day silence on a dialysis closure. A nine‑week silence on Wilcox. A “tremendous gap” he named in a press release out of Washington and then did not return to.

Day 66, Day 6

Sunday May 17 the Fresenius Kidney Care center in Tuskegee closed permanently. Six days have now passed. Roughly fifty Macon County dialysis patients are on the road three times a week to Tallassee, Auburn, or Union Springs. The closure is real, and it is operational.

The figures.house.gov press releases page this morning carries no statement on the closure. None Sunday. None Monday. None Tuesday. None Wednesday. None Thursday. None Friday. The most recent statement on this closure is still the press release dated March 18 — sixty‑six days ago, before the closure happened, written from Washington.

What has not been issued in the sixty‑six days between the March 18 release and this morning:

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 six days since.
No town hall in Tuskegee.
No successor operator publicly identified.
No public statement on the closure since it became real.

Day 66 of silence. Day 6 of closure. The patients are still on the road. The follow‑up has still not arrived.

Two Columns — what the Court‑Appointed Incumbent has said about District 2 / what the Court‑Appointed Incumbent has done for District 2

What he has said about District 2

What he has done for District 2

March 18, 2026 press release: the Tuskegee closure “will leave a tremendous gap in the health care system in Macon County.”

Sixty‑six days later, no follow‑up release, no closure‑day statement, no site visit on the public record.

May 7, 2026 Montgomery town hall: told roughly 100 attendees he did not expect the Supreme Court to lift the injunction before 2030.

The Supreme Court lifted the injunction four days later, on May 11.

May 22, 2026 qualifying statement: he is running in “the district that includes the majority of the counties I currently represent.”

Six days into the Tuskegee closure being real, those counties have heard nothing from him about it.

Public statements on the Macon County dialysis closure since it happened: zero.

Press releases out of Washington that named the closure in advance and then did not return to it: one, on March 18.

The Wilcox parallel keeps holding

Wilcox County’s Fresenius closure on March 20 is the parallel case. Sixty‑four days into that closure being real, Representative Sewell has issued no substantive follow‑up either. Two rural‑Alabama Black Belt dialysis closures. Two Democratic congressional incumbents. Two press releases at announcement. Zero substantive public follow‑up at or after either 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 turnout said on Tuesday

Statewide turnout for the May 19 primary came in at twenty‑three percent — about 879,000 ballots cast against roughly 3.6 million registered voters. The Alabama Reflector reported the directional pattern: Democratic‑leaning counties including Jefferson, Montgomery, and Greene saw turnout increases against four years ago. Republican‑leaning counties including Baldwin, Shelby, and Cullman saw decreases.

Montgomery County sits inside District 2 under either map version, and that is the county where Democratic primary turnout went up. The redistricting fight is motivating Democratic voters in the largest population center inside this district. The Republican answer to that motivation is to show up in larger numbers on August 11 than the Democratic side expects. Eighty days is enough to do it. Eighty days is not enough to start late.

What District 2 voters can do this weekend

Carry the Tuskegee story. Day 66 since the last federal statement. Day 6 since the closure. Roughly fifty patients on the road three times a week. These are the facts. Take them to the people in your church, your community, your social feeds.
Read the first “field set” coverage today. The Reflector and Yellowhammer published their post‑qualifying pieces yesterday evening and this morning. AL.com, Lagniappe, and Alabama Daily News are likely to publish theirs over the weekend. Read all of them. The early framing of the race shapes the next eleven weeks.
Know the new field. Six Republicans, not three. Make sure the people in your circle know it.
Mark the calendar. Eighty days to August 11. One hundred and sixty‑four days to November 3.

Key dates ahead

This weekend, May 23 – 24 — first wave of post‑qualifying media coverage; comparative pieces likely to follow next week.
Monday May 25 — Memorial Day.
Tuesday June 16 — statewide GOP runoffs (U.S. Senate, PSC Place 2, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Ag Commissioner). No AL‑02 ballot item, but turnout patterns in Mobile and the Wiregrass on that day are a leading indicator for August 11.
Tuesday August 11 — AL‑02 special primary. Plurality wins. No runoff. The August 11 Republican winner is the nominee on November 3.
Tuesday November 3, 2026 — general election. The day District 2 takes the seat back.