How Black Organizers Overcame Alabama’s Latest Gerrymandering Effort

The night U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures of Alabama learned that he had won reelection, history was in the room.

Walking to the stage to give his victory speech at Ravello Ristorante in Montgomery, Alabama, he passed Sheyann Webb-Christburg, 70, who was about 8 years old in 1965 when she joined activists on the Edmund Pettus Bridge on “Bloody Sunday” in their fight for voting rights.

Figures, a Democrat, told Capital B that he thought about his parents and other relatives who had shaped his life, as well as the sacrifices that his wife and children had made while he was on the campaign trail. But he also thought about people beyond his family who had paved a path for him.

“It’s those people that, you know, this victory meant more to than it ever could to me,” he said, referring to Webb-Christburg, whom Martin Luther King Jr. dubbed the “smallest freedom fighter.”

His triumph this month was, to many, an unexpected rebuke of Republican efforts to weaken Black voting power in Alabama, where activists had spent years fighting for fairer congressional representation. His win also reflected the strength of an organizing network that had prepped for political and legal setbacks long before the midterms. The results offered a lesson in how Black voters and activists could overcome a political landscape that had shifted dramatically right beneath their feet — even as they continued to challenge the fairness of the map.

“Black voters sent a resounding message that we cannot be silenced or counted out,” Janai Nelson, the president and director-counsel of the Legal Defense Fund, said of the Black voting strength that was on display in the South and beyond on election night. “Now, it is imperative that every eligible voter stays engaged and vigilant.”

The stakes couldn’t have been higher, particularly for those activists who had spent years struggling for a second heavily Black congressional district. In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Alabama’s map had violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965 by giving Black voters control in only one district, or 14%, though Black voters make up roughly 27% of the state’s voting-age population. A new map subsequently gave them control in two districts, or 28%, clearing the way for Figures’ first win in 2024.

But that achievement came under threat in June of this year. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in April further eroding the Voting Rights Act, Alabama Republicans returned to an earlier map that reduces the Black voting-age population of Figures’ district from 49% to 40%. The change meant that Figures would have to compete for the support of voters who hadn’t previously been part of his constituency.

Figures’ Republican opponent, state Rep. Rhett Marques, suggested in May that the new map didn’t go far enough. “Alabamians deserve congressional representation that reflects who we are: a proudly conservative, red state. That means a 7-0 map, not 6-1,” he said.

Those gerrymandered boundaries didn’t stop Figures from winning the contest. He secured about 54% of the vote, according to the AP. Marques conceded before Figures’ campaign was ready to declare victory. Figures recalled a sense of relief that was quickly followed by deep gratitude for everyone who had given him another term.

“People had entrusted us once again to be able to do the work that we love to do — and on behalf of the people we love,” he said.

Beating the odds 

Evan Milligan was driving to a watch party in Montgomery when a friend texted him the news that Figures had won. He had to pull over and soak in the moment.

For Milligan — the named plaintiff in the case that led to the creation of Figures’ district — and other activists, the race’s outcome was the result of efforts they had begun long ago. This work stretched back at least to 2021, when activists began meeting regularly to prepare for the next round of redistricting and possible Republican gerrymandering.

Milligan recalled how various groups would connect every two weeks to coordinate their efforts. During those Zoom meetings, they would share updates, discuss legal strategies, and figure out which groups were working and in which parts of the state.

Those discussions, Milligan said, helped to establish relationships across groups that didn’t always agree on how to challenge Republican redistricting. Some favored pursuing claims under the Voting Rights Act, while others advocated for an approach that prioritized using the language of keeping counties intact. But those disagreements didn’t prevent them from sticking together. They ultimately forged a network that could respond swiftly when the political environment shifted.

“We evolve, we change, we have to be able to adapt,” Milligan, who was in a Berlin church when he received a text message in 2023 saying that he had won a major voting rights case against Alabama, told Capital B.

“The community’s ability to overcome a barrier doesn’t mean that the barrier was justified in the first place.”

Anneshia Hardy, Alabama Values executive director

That preparation proved to be essential when the Supreme Court in June allowed Alabama to revert to a map that reduced the Black voting-age population share of Figures’ district. Activists worked to identify communities needing additional outreach, harmonizing their efforts so that, as Milligan put it, “no corner [of the district] was left untouched.” The work included nonpartisan voter education as well as separate efforts by campaigns to persuade voters.

Anneshia Hardy, the executive director of Alabama Values, a nonprofit grassroots organization, was one of the activists leading these efforts. On election night, she spent 12 hours in an election protection operation in Montgomery, responding to reports of voting problems. Afterward, she joined relatives at her cousin’s house for a watch party. Her aunt, a cashier, was eager to hear Hardy’s debrief.

For Hardy, this engagement sprang from years of legal fights over voting rights. The litigation had created opportunities to reach voters who might not have been paying attention as the map battle played out. Some had testified during the proceedings and learned about the ramifications of redrawing boundaries. This participation, in turn, deepened their relationships with organizations working to protect Black access to the franchise.

After the latest Supreme Court decision, Hardy said, activists built on those preexisting relationships. In part, that organizing looked like establishing community hubs and working groups. But it also entailed reaching people in spaces not typically associated with politics, using the redistricting fight to shine a light on how decisions about voting boundaries could affect every facet of someone’s life: access to healthcare, the cost of living, and more.

But Hardy cautioned against buying into the narrative that Republicans’ gerrymandering efforts “didn’t work.” Black communities have long organized under unequal conditions, from the push against Jim Crow-era voter suppression to more recent legal battles over redistricting, she explained, and their success in overcoming obstacles shouldn’t be used to diminish the seriousness of those obstacles.

“The community’s ability to overcome a barrier doesn’t mean that the barrier was justified in the first place,” she told Capital B.

Some analysts have stressed that, without gerrymandering, Black voters would have still more seats in Congress. The lawmakers they helped to elect, they say, face a clear charge to bolster voting rights protections — for instance by passing the elusive John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act — so that Black political representation doesn’t hinge on overcoming gerrymandered maps.

For Figures, the altered boundaries required his campaign to expand to reach a different electorate. He explained that approximately 60% of the population in the new district had previously been represented by him. This meant that he had to be intentional about introducing himself to voters across a different geographic area.

But he maintained that the issues that mattered to residents — the cost of living, agriculture, rural hospitals, infrastructure — were largely unchanged.

“The message we were getting to people and how we were getting the message to people, none of that changed,” Figures said. “The only thing that changed is where we were getting that message to.”

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