Just days after the Legislature completed a special session called by Gov. Kay Ivey to allow for special elections if the U.S. Supreme Court took favorable action in redistricting cases involving Alabama’s legislative and congressional maps — the Supreme Court took action.

By a 6-to-3 margin, justices ordered lower federal courts to vacate their prior rulings and allow Alabama to hold elections using congressional district maps passed by the Legislature in 2023 rather than court-ordered maps drawn by federal judges.

The special session and the order to vacate follow the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Louisiana v. Callais, which essentially stated that political partisanship may be considered when drawing legislative and congressional maps, but race may not be used as a determining factor.

Following the ruling, Gov. Ivey convened a special legislative with only two bills to consider, one that allows for special primary elections to be held in State Senate districts 25 and 26 and another allowing for special primaries to be held in Congressional districts 1, 2, 6, and 7 — all of which were directly affected by the lower court’s rulings.

Though the Legislature passed both bills in just five days, which is the fastest allowable time that a bill may become a law in Alabama, the session was plagued by more than a bit of turmoil.

On the second day of the session, the Senate debated its legislation during multiple tornado warnings, a flash flood that filled the first floor of the Alabama State House with up to four feet of water and caused severe damage to several legislators’ cars parked in an underground parking deck, and a fire alarm that forced the evacuation of the building and ended a filibuster by Democrat lawmakers.

During each day of the session, dozens of protesters filled the plaza in front of the Alabama State House and both the House and Senate galleries. Outbursts by protesters in the House gallery during the last meeting day prompted a recess as Alabama State Troopers forcibly removed an individual and attempted to clear the area.

Both bills received final passage after cloture motions ended lengthy filibusters by Democrats.

As expected, leaders of the Democrat and Republican parties issued wildly differing statements on the session following its completion.

Following the Supreme Court’s order, Gov. Ivey has officially set special, winner-take-all primary elections for August 11, 2026, in Alabama’s first, second, sixth and seventh congressional districts. The elections will impact seats currently held by Congressman Shomari Figures (D-Mobile), Congressman Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), Congressman Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) and Congresswoman Terri Sewell (D-Selma). If the Supreme Court issues an additional order affecting State Senate districts 25 and 26, similar special elections could also be held for seats currently represented by Sen. Will Barfoot (R-Pike Road) and Sen. Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery).

Unlike regular primaries, which require a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, these special primary elections will be decided by plurality vote, meaning the candidate receiving the most votes will win.

To allow time for November general election ballots to be prepared, results of the special primaries must be certified by August 26, 2026.