Latest / In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson / Election Preview - TPR's In Focus - May 15, 2026

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Election Preview - TPR's In Focus - May 15, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's Dothan Campus,
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  identifying and preserving historical documents and photographs for research related to the
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  Wiregrass region. More information at troy.edu slash wiregrass archives. From Troy Public Radio,
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  this is the news wrap from In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson. With Alabama's primary
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  election scheduled for next Tuesday, Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public Television's
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  Capital Journal, shares a preview, and the wild card is the biggest one yet.
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  Todd, welcome back to the news wrap. Good to be with you. Todd, this is a big week
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  leading into an important election. Can you get us up to date? Well, that's right. The election
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  is on Tuesday. This is Alabama's big election. They're called midterms because it's in the
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  middle of a president's term, but everything in Alabama is on the ballot, from the governor to
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  all the different constitutional offices, every member of the legislature. We've got a couple of
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  big congressional races. We've got a U.S. Senate seat on the ballot, so I encourage everybody to
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  get out the vote, and it's important what we've just learned this week in the wake of the Supreme
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  Court ruling and last week's special session. And so, a special election held in August for this
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  new map. It's kind of an old map. The state is reverting back to what the legislature originally
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  passed back in 2023. It had been struck down by the courts, but now it's back. And so, for the
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  1st, 2nd, and 6th and 7th congressional districts, they'll be able to vote again in August for a new
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  primary. So, I know that's a little confusing, but the important thing is everybody needs to get
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  out the vote because all those statewide races are on the ballot. Those votes are going to count.
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  These other special elections, you know, that's something to worry about in the months to come.
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  Give us a reminder, when you go to the polling place, do you have to declare which party you're
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  voting in? This is a primary election, so you'll either choose to vote in the Republican primary
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  or vote in the Democratic primary. There's no rule about you don't have to be registered or
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  anything like that. The only rule is in the runoffs, which we're going to have some runoffs.
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  If you vote in the Republican primary, you've got to vote in the Republican runoff. You can't cross
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  over and vote in the Democratic runoff and vice versa. If you don't know where your polling
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  location is, just look it up online at the Secretary of State's website. That's alabamavotes.gov.
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  Obviously, bring your ID, driver's license, or another form of ID to the polls and get out the
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  vote. I would imagine, Carolyn, that your loyal listeners are pretty loyal voters also. I have no
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  doubt that they'll be getting out to vote. Todd, that's called a vote of confidence. Well, how
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  about a wild card? Yeah, this one comes from NPR, and they're reporting from Southeast Asia,
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  where scientists have discovered what we think is the world's largest dinosaur.
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  They've uncovered fossils of a dinosaur that is the equivalent of six large elephants,
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  and three times the size of a Tyrannosaurus rex. They're calling it the largest dinosaur
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  ever found. I love dinosaur stuff and Jurassic Park and all that, so maybe we'll have another
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  round of those movies. Well, thankfully, those dinosaurs are in the past, but meanwhile, who is
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  on Capitol Journal? Well, we're going to be talking a lot about the election. We're also
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  going to look back at this new map, the congressional maps, and sort that out for everybody.
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  We're going to be looking back at the Supreme Court decision. I've actually got an expert from
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  the American Enterprise Institute to kind of explain the jurisprudence here, what's happening.
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  I'm also going to be talking about the amendments that are on the ballot. There are a couple of
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  constitutional amendments before voters, so we'll explain that as well. So, it's a good episode of
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  Capitol Journal. Tune in tonight at 7 30 or Sunday at noon. Well, Todd, thank you for the news wrap,
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  and let's remind the listeners they can find out more about the candidates in this race on YouTube
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  from Capitol Journal. That's right. We've interviewed most of the major candidates for
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  public office this time around, and we're going to be putting those interviews up.
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  Go online, check those out if you're not sure who to vote for, and thank you, Carolyn.
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  Joining us for the news wrap was Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal.
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  More information can be found at the aptv.org website. Thanks for joining us for In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts.
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  I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this is listener-supported Troy Public Radio.