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Alabama Election - TPR's In Focus - August 17, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from Troy University's Trojan Cafe,
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  offering handcrafted Starbucks beverages and a wide assortment of meal
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  and snack options, located on Troy University's Montgomery campus
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  across from the Rosa Parks Library and Museum.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is the News Wrap
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  from In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. Todd Stacy,
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  host of APT's Capitol Journal,
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  discusses the results of the recent 2nd Congressional District election.
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  And the wild card gives us goosebumps.
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  Todd Stacy, welcome back to the News Wrap. Good to be with you.
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  Todd, I was following the Alabama Daily News, which you publish,
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  and noticed information about the election results. Can you share
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  that with us today? Well, that's right. We had an election this week, but it
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  was a pretty low turnout. These special elections called by the governor
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  after the legislature essentially redrew the congressional
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  districts to look like the map they passed 3 years ago
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  rather than what the court redrew. This is a response to
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  the Supreme Court. So the big races were in Alabama's
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  1st District, where Jerry Carl, former congressman,
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  prevailed on the Republican side. But the closer race
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  looks like it's going to be in Alabama's 2nd District. The 2 nominees
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  are Rep. Marcus. He won handily on the Republican side. And Shamari Figures
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  didn't even have to contest anybody. So he is the Democratic nominee. Now, that's the
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  race to really watch because while it was drawn to be
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  pretty favorable to Republicans, this is likely to be
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  a good year nationally and in the state for
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  Democrats. So Shamari Figures, being the incumbent, even though the district has been redrawn,
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  has a fighting chance. And so both national parties are really paying a lot
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  of attention to that 2nd District, which is here in Montgomery all the way
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  down to the southeast corner of the state. You're going to see a lot of
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  money spent on both sides because Democrats are really
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  eager to pick up enough seats to control the majority,
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  right? Gain the majority in the House of Representatives. There are those who would
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  like to see Alabama all Republican, but I've heard one
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  of your guests say on the show, if the Democrats get the
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  House, Alabama does need more representation. Well, that's right.
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  And that's always been the case. So when I was working up there in Congress,
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  you had years when Barack Obama was president. So it was really helpful
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  to have Terry Sewell there, who was not only in the Democratic caucus,
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  but personal friends with the president and the first lady. That really helped. Same thing
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  when Biden was there. And for Representative Sewell, the same thing
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  existed when Trump has been in office, right? Because Republicans are
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  closer with Trump and that administration. So it works both ways. And Alabama
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  has historically had a lot of success doing that with a bipartisan
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  delegation. So as much as the national party really wants it to be one way
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  or the other, there's no question that in divided government, it pays to have a
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  bipartisan delegation. Well, as we prepare for all of the advertising,
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  the political advertising between now and November,
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  what we need is a wild card. What do you have? Well, yeah,
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  this is a fun story. This pet goose. Who in the world has a pet
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  goose? But if you live on a farm, you might. This comes from a farm
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  in Texas. Where at night the barn caught on fire and this family
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  didn't know it, but their pet goose started howling and alerting the family
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  that the barn was on fire. And thank goodness the goose kind of saved the
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  day because they wouldn't have had another way to know and get that fire put
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  out. As annoying as geese can be, this hero goose seemed
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  to save the day. I went to YouTube and I heard the goose. Yeah,
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  quite the honk. There you go. Well,
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  who is on Capitol Journal tonight at 7:30,
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  Sunday at noon, and on YouTube? We are on location at
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  the Business Council of Alabama's annual Government Affairs Conference.
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  Lawmakers, other elected officials, the entire congressional delegation, the governor
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  down at Point Clear at the Grand Hotel, business leaders from all around the
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  state. Capital Journal was given special access, so I'll be talking
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  to the Speaker of the House, President Pro Tem of the Senate, members of our
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  congressional delegation, BCA leadership themselves. It's a unique opportunity
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  to take viewers inside the preeminent conference in state
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  government there in Point Clear. Well, I can't wait to hear it and
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  watch it, so I thank you for joining us today for the News Wrap.
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  Thank you. Host Todd Stacy joined us from Capitol
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  Journal. More information is at the aptv.org
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  website. Thanks for joining us for In Focus, which is
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  a podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free
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  to get in touch at infocus@troy.edu.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported
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  Troy Public Radio.