In GOP congressional race that doesn’t count, Carl leads the field; Marques is second
The 1st congressional contest on ballots throughout South Alabama did not count on Tuesday. The results were invalidated before the election began. Still, the winner...
Mason Reed 
The results might not impact the record books, but the tally for the Republican primary in the defunct 1st Congressional District suggests a strong performance for former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl.
As of 10:40 p.m. Tuesday, Carl led a crowded field of seven GOP candidates, securing 41.14% of the vote. State Rep. Rhett Marques of Enterprise followed in second place with 31.5%.
A Contest in Limbo
Despite the active polling, the election itself is effectively a ghost; the results are slated for immediate invalidation. Alabama is set to launch a new qualification period Wednesday for special primary elections covering Districts 1 and 2 in South Alabama, as well as Districts 6 and 7 in the Birmingham area and West Alabama.
In the invalidated 2nd District, U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Mobile) and Republican challenger Hampton Harris faced no primary opposition.
Top Contenders Eye the Future
Even with the election set to be voided, the front-runners treated the day with gravity. Marques, who has shifted his campaign focus to the 2nd Congressional District for the upcoming Aug. 11 special election, received a major boost from U.S. Sen. Katie Britt. Britt urged supporters to back Marques, citing his candidacy in the 1st District contest.
Carl, aiming for a comeback in the 1st District—which encompasses Mobile, Baldwin, Covington, and Escambia counties—remained focused on the numbers. He told 205focus.com earlier in the day, “I want to win tonight, period.”
Carl showed significant strength in Mobile and Baldwin counties, which accounted for more than 80% of his total votes. He also dominated Escambia County, grabbing 72.6% of the nearly 3,000 votes cast there. Marques, meanwhile, found his strongest support in the Wiregrass region, pulling in over 54% in Houston County and nearly 65% in his home turf of Coffee County.
A Rare Political Upheaval
The current state of Alabama's congressional landscape is a rarity in U.S. politics. Experts note that before a recent primary in Louisiana, the last time a congressional contest was voided prior to the election was in the 19th century.
This legislative turbulence follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, which deemed a Louisiana district an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. The decision spurred a cascade of redistricting across the South. Alabama’s GOP-supermajority legislature responded by reauthorizing congressional maps originally established in 2023. Following a 6–3 Supreme Court decision on May 11, the injunction blocking those maps was lifted.
However, the matter remains in legal flux. Three Republican judges in the Northern District of Alabama announced on May 12 they will reconsider the case, noting the “extreme time exigencies” facing the state’s election officials.
While other candidates like state Sen. Chris Elliott have been the subject of rumors regarding potential qualification for these special races, Elliott stated last week he remained “100 percent focused” on his own re-election.
