By Brian Lyman | Editor
“We need to make sure that we realize and listen to people. I’m gonna hold listening tours across all 67 counties because I want you to know: Women, I see you, and I hear you. I want the LGBTQ to know that I hear you and I see you. We can no longer sit back and do things in an archaic way.” - Sen. Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, newly-elected Alabama Democratic Party chair
Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, watches as votes are counted during an election for Alabama Democratic Party chair at the Alabama State Democratic Executive Committee's meeting on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026 in Montgomery, Ala. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector)
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
By Anna Barrett
The Alabama Democratic Party’s executive committee Saturday elected Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, as party chair. Singleton, who won 72% of the vote against former Chair Randy Kelley, said he planned to travel the state and ensure that the party supports candidates in a year when Democratic prospects in Alabama appear to have improved.
A sign saying "Vote Here" is seen at the Dean Road Recreation Center in Auburn, Alabama, on May 19, 2026. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
ELECTIONS 2026
By Andrea Tinker
Voters in four of the state’s seven congressional districts go to the polls on Tuesday to select party nominees for the November elections. The elections were called after the Supreme Court allowed the state to use a congressional map it previously deemed racially discriminatory. While the Democratic field is set in all but one district, Republicans have contested races in all four. Here’s a guide to the candidates and the races.
Marchers walk across the Edmund Pettus Bridge during commemorations of the 61st anniversary of Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama on March 8, 2026. (Estela Munoz for Alabama Reflector)
COMMENTARY
By Brian Lyman
Last week marked the 61st anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, the landmark law that transformed the South. But it was a somber moment for the law, which the U.S. Supreme Court has rendered all but meaningless amid ongoing attacks on enfranchisement. In my column this week, I write that saving democracy will require more than restoring the VRA: We have to rethink how we vote and our winner-takes-all electoral system.
ICYMI
Alabama Supreme Court extends plaintiffs’ briefing schedule in Tuberville residency suit | Anna Barrett, Alabama Reflector
Trump administration eyes coal reserves under federal lands in Alabama, western states | Lisa Sorg, Inside Climate News
‘I wanted the pregnancy. It was just so scary.’ | Sofia Resnick and Shailna Chatlani, Stateline.
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