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Supreme Court OKs Alabama Map - TPR's In Focus - June 5, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Rosa Parks Museum on Troy University's Montgomery campus,
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  located on the spot of Mrs. Parks' historic 1955 arrest and featuring
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  exhibits that chronicle the history of the Montgomery bus boycott.
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  More information at Troy.edu slash Rosa Parks.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is the news wrap from In Focus, and I'm Carolyn Hutcheson.
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  Todd Stacy, host of Alabama Public Television's Capital Journal, discusses
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  the Supreme Court's decision about Alabama's congressional map, and the
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  wildcard features a famous hairstyle.
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  Todd Stacey, welcome back to the news wrap from Alabama Public Television's
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  Capital Journal. Good to be with you. What's the biggest topic this week? Well,
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  I think we can finally put this to rest, but there's been one more redistricting
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  decision. The Supreme Court ruled that Alabama will be allowed to use the
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  congressional map, favoring Republicans, essentially. There was a court ruling
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  last week that the state needed to revert back to what the courts drew and
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  what the courts approved. The state appealed that decision to the Supreme
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  Court, and the Supreme Court agreed with Alabama. So, the upshot is the map that
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  the courts drew were more favorable to Democrats. That's how Shemarie Figures
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  got elected to Congress. So, he's gonna have a tougher time because his district,
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  the second district, becomes a lot more favorable towards Republicans. So, coming
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  up on June 16th is another election. Which one is that? This is the runoffs. We
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  voted on May 19th for the Republican and Democratic primaries. You have to get 50%
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  plus one to win. So, candidates that didn't get that in races that nobody got
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  50% go to a runoff. So, there's some big ones. U.S. Senate, that's gonna be Barry
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  Moore and Jared Hudson. Also, Lieutenant Governor, that's John Wall and Wes Allen.
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  Also, Attorney General, that's Katherine Robertson and Jay Mitchell. So, some
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  really big races going to the runoff in just a little over a week. I noticed in
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  your Alabama Daily News this statement. It's really interesting.
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  Republicans won the redistricting battle, but now voters will decide whether they
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  win Congress. Yeah, it's a truthful statement because there's been this kind
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  of arms race, if you will, between Republicans and Democrats trying to add
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  seats. Started in Texas where Republicans redistricted to try to get
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  more Republicans to Congress. Then Democrats did the same thing in
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  California and New York and they tried to in Virginia. State after state is
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  doing this, including Alabama, even though it's only one seat. If you add it all up,
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  Republicans probably netted 10 more seats. We'll see how that works. But, this
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  is a midterm election and the party in power, which is Republicans, historically
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  loses seats in Congress. Of course, with everything going on, the president's
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  approval rating is not great. That is a drag on the Republicans this fall. So, if
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  historical trends continue, then yeah, Republicans are at risk of losing
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  Congress. So, will that 10-seat bump be enough or will their losses be more than
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  10? So, there's a lot up for grabs this November in terms of who controls the
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  majority in Congress. Well, I think it's time for a wild card. What do you have?
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  Yeah, well, let's lighten up a little bit. And, this is just hilarious. Over in
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  Bangladesh, there is a buffalo that the local residents have named Donald Trump.
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  And, there's a good reason for that because this buffalo, believe it or not,
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  has a hairdo. That's a hairdo that looks exactly like Donald Trump. So, if you just
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  picture the president's hair, very unique hair, you know, on a water buffalo, it is
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  exactly what you would think it is. And so, they have lovingly named him Donald
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  Trump. It's from the Associated Press. A celebrity hairstyle. Absolutely. Todd, who
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  is on Capitol Journal tonight at 730, Sunday at noon, and on YouTube? Well, the
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  election is coming up. So, we're gonna have the candidates for lieutenant
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  governor. These are the two candidates in the runoff. Wes Allen, the current
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  Secretary of State, and John Walt, the former chairman of the Republican Party.
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  Last week, we had the boys state participants on, the governor and
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  lieutenant governor. This week, it's girls state. And, we'll have the governor and
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  the lieutenant governor from girls state. And, it's always so cool to be able
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  to interview them. Thank you so much. Thank you. That was Todd Stacy, host of
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  Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal. More information can be found at
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  the website, aptv.org. Thanks for joining us for the news wrap from In Focus,
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  which is a podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Carolyn Hutcheson, and this
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  is listener-supported, Troy Public Radio.