MOBILE, Ala.—Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) will likely secure another two years in Washington after beating Rep. Jerry Carl (R-Ala.) in a competitive primary contest in southern Alabama in a newly redrawn congressional district.
Mr. Moore, who currently represents the Yellowhammer State’s Second Congressional District, won the Republican Party’s statewide primary on the evening of March 5. The Associated Press called the race in the evening after reviewing enough voting data to make its conclusion.
Mr. Moore was not in Alabama for his win. He returned to Washington on March 5 to rejoin the House when it resumed. Mr. Moore’s victory was an upset since the latest polling in southern Alabama showed he trailed in the race during its final days.
With the primary victory, Mr. Moore should go on to win the general election in a newly redrawn First District in November. His Democratic Party opponent, Tom Holmes, is unlikely to win the deeply conservative district.
After a Supreme Court decision forced its hand, Alabama redrew its congressional district map in October 2023.
The First District, previously centered on Mobile Bay and the surrounding counties, was expanded to cover all of the state’s southernmost counties from the Mississippi to Georgia borders. The Second District, which covered much of the southeastern part of Alabama and part of the Montgomery, Alabama, metro area, now sits directly to the north of the First District and covers the so-called Black Belt of Alabama as well as Montgomery County.
Mobile County, one of the state’s most populous areas, was split between the First and Second Districts, with much of Mobile, Alabama, apportioned to the Second District.
The decision was made to grant black Alabamans a better opportunity to elect candidates and represent the state on Capitol Hill.
The old Second District is represented in the 119th Congress by Mr. Moore of Enterprise, Alabama. Mr. Moore, a member of the hard-line House Freedom Caucus, decided to run for the First District seat in October 2023 after the redraw plan was finalized.
With Mr. Moore’s Super Tuesday triumph, Mr. Carl’s time in Congress is over for now.
In the Second District, no clear winner emerged on March 5 due to the large number of candidates competing to represent the Republican Party and the Democratic Party in the November contest. Out of the 11 running for the Democrats and eight running for the Republicans, the two candidates who received the highest percentage of the vote for both parties will compete directly in a run-off election that should be set for April 16.
From The Epoch Times
