Sunday, May 31, 2026

This Week In One Line

District 2's entire future is sitting at the United States Supreme Court — and the justices could act as early as tomorrow. Whether the August 11 special primary is a real chance to win this seat back, or another election locked inside court-drawn lines, comes down to what the Court does in the next 48 hours.

The map is at the Supreme Court — and Monday is the hinge

On May 26, the three-judge federal panel again struck down Alabama's 2023 congressional map, repeating its finding of intentional racial discrimination, and ruled that the August 11 special primaries should proceed under the prior court-drawn districts — the same lines that sent Shomari Figures to Washington in 2024.

Alabama did not wait. Attorney General Steve Marshall appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court and filed an emergency application to use the state's 2023 map, asking the justices to act by 10 a.m. Monday, June 1, so the map can be in place for the 2026 elections. Justice Clarence Thomas gave the challengers until 4 p.m. Monday to file their response. As of today, the Court has not ruled.

Bottom line: The terms of the August 11 election in District 2 are still unsettled — and the window for the Court to set them is now measured in hours, not weeks. Which map governs decides how winnable this seat is.

What's actually at stake

This is the whole ballgame for District 2:

- If the 2023 Alabama-drawn map stands: District 2 becomes a genuine opportunity to elect a representative who reflects the district's values — the outcome this effort exists to achieve.

- If the court-drawn map stays in place: the district remains configured as the seat Figures won in 2024, and the climb is steeper.

That is why the next few days matter more than any ad, any poll, or any endorsement. The Court sets the field everyone else plays on.

Figures is defending the map that drew him the seat

Shomari Figures was elected in 2024 under the court-drawn lines, and he has lined up behind the litigation that keeps those lines in place, pointing to the panel's repeated discrimination findings. That is his right — but it is worth naming plainly: the incumbent's strongest argument for keeping his seat is the map a court drew for him. The contest he is least eager to have is the one on a level field.

The field forming for August 11

Under the special-election calendar Governor Ivey set after the May 11 Supreme Court order, qualifying for the August 11 primary ran May 20–22 for the major parties, with 21 candidates qualified across the four affected districts (the 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th).

- Hampton Harris (R): the first — and, at qualifying, the only — Republican to qualify in District 2, and he has confirmed he is continuing his campaign. His message is consistency: he ran when the lines favored Democrats and is still running now. “Commitment, not convenience.”

- Others in the broader AL-02 picture: David Matthews, an Ozark native and USDA Rural Development official under both Trump administrations, has announced; state Rep. Rhett Marques moves into play as Coffee County shifts to AL-02 under the 2023 map. The Republican side is forming around the premise that the seat is winnable — if the map holds.

What to watch

- A Supreme Court order — it could come as early as Monday, June 1, and it decides which map governs August 11.

- Whether the state can re-sort voters in time if the map changes: Alabama's elections director testified that voter rolls unlock only late this week and that an expedited reassignment risks putting voters in the wrong districts.

- How Figures and his allies frame the litigation if the Court lets the 2023 map proceed.

Sources: Alabama Reflector, PBS NewsHour, NBC News, NPR, Office of Gov. Ivey — verified May 31, 2026. Map outcome pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Paid for by Strategic Resource Group, L.L.C., 556 Clay St, Montgomery, AL 36104. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.