Opinion | Eligibility to run in the Democratic primary for the new 2nd Congressional District appears to be to not live in the district

The politics of “friends and neighbors” and the idea that “all politics is local” have become obsolete. Rather, we are a nation and nation divided along partisan and racial lines. Nearly all white voters in Alabama are Republicans, and nearly all black voters are Democrats. Most people vote progressively along party lines.

Sensing this, the federal courts broke new ground here in Alabama by removing Congress's constitutional authority to draw lines from redistricting and using the Voting Rights Act as a precedent. decided to create a second minority district for the draw the line yourself. When they drew new lines in the second black/Democrat district, they worked to ensure that the new district favored Democrats. The new district includes all of Montgomery and the surrounding counties, stretching through the Black Belt and home to most of Mobile's black voters. It has attracted many ambitious black politicians from all corners of the state.

Under federal law, a candidate does not have to be a resident of a congressional district to be elected. Believe me, these Democratic wannabes took full advantage of that loophole. It appears that the best qualification for running in this new 2nd District Democratic primary is not living in the district.

This race is chaotic and it is impossible to predict who is in the lead or who will win. It's a real comedy show.

Even if all the candidates running for office live outside the district, you may think that the incumbent may be the favorite. For example, his three most high-profile Democratic members are Representative Anthony Daniels, Senator Merica Coleman, and Representative Juanda Lingivan, who live in Huntsville, Bessemer, and Birmingham, respectively, and represent those areas in Congress. I am in charge of So they can't even pretend to move to the Congressional district they're running for. They can't even vote for themselves.

Two other members, Jeremy Gray of Opelika and Napoleon Bracy of Saraland, live near the border but are not in the House district. But Jeremy Gray made a strenuous effort to relocate to Phenix City, a few miles away in his congressional district. I heard this from a young woman working for his campaign who had a phone number in Tampa, Florida. By the way, I don't know how people know your private cell phone number, but she figured it out and called me at 8am on a Sunday morning to explain Jeremy's move. . I told her that it would seem strange that he actually lived in the area, so she shouldn't tell anyone about it.

I mistakenly said that Napoleon Bracey lives in Pritchard, which is in his parliamentary district, which is actually in the new parliamentary district. I received a ton of emails explaining that Napoleon lives outside the district in Saraland. Therefore, Napoleon would be complying with the requirement that he not live in the district to operate successfully.

The most prominent candidate to correct me on his residence is the mobile candidate Shomari Figures. Young Mr. Figures' claim to fame and credentials is that he is the son of veteran state senator Vivian Figures and the late Sen. Michael Figures. Until a few months ago, he worked in Washington. I mentioned that in my last column, and I thought it was good publicity for him. One morning he called my personal cell phone number at 7 a.m. and adamantly told me he was moving his house to Mobile and that he had acquired a residence in Mobile. He continued to bombard me with emails requesting that I now officially live in Mobile. My advice to him was that if he wanted to be seen as a credible candidate, that was not the best path to being a strong candidate in this district. In fact, it's probably better not to live in this area.

I would give the same advice to the other six Democratic primary candidates. If you live in that constituency, don't admit it. Since you are very likely the only person living in your constituency, you are automatically eliminated as an oddball and a loser.

This is fun to watch and a real novelty.

see you next week.