WASHINGTON (AP) — Alabama voters head to the polls on Nov. 5 with a newly drawn congressional district and a long history of Republican dominance in the state on the line. The Democratic candidate for president hasn't carried Alabama since Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Since then, the state has become reliably red. Both U.S.
senators, six of the state's seven members of the U.S. House and the governor are Republicans.
Former President Donald Trump won the state by 28 percentage points in 2016 and 26 points four years later. Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and three independent candidates round out the field on the presidential ballot. Alabama has nine electoral votes.
Alabama's 2nd Congressional District was redrawn this year after the Supreme Court ruled that the state had illegally diluted the influence of Black voters. The district stretches across the lower third of the state and includes the cities of Mobile and Montgomery. Democrat Shomari Figures and Republican Caroleene Dobson are both seeking the open seat .
Its voting-age population is 49% Black, up from 30% from when the district was reliably Republican. The current representative, Barry Moore, opted to run in the neighboring 1st District where he beat incumbent Jerry Carl in the primary. The other five incumbent representatives are running for reelection in their current seats.
Neither senator nor the governor is on the ballot this year, and the state's lone ballot measure would affect only Franklin County. Alab.
