U.S. Rep. Barry Moore has not yet made a decision on his political future after the special master redrew his district in the newly proposed congressional maps.
Special master Richard Allen submitted three congressional redistricting maps to the court this week. All three maps create a mutual district between Moore (R-Enterprise) and U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl.
The U.S. Supreme Court also rejected the state’s appeal to reinstate its maps, meaning that the three-judge panel will decide the next congressional map for Alabama.
Carl (R-Mobile) has already announced that he plans to run for reelection in the newly created District 1.
South Alabama and its communities need to stay together. However, let me be clear, I will be running for re-election in Alabama’s First Congressional District. (2/2)
— Jerry Carl (@CarlForAlabama) September 26, 2023
Thursday on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Moore reacted to the court’s ruling and the new congressional maps.
“I don’t agree with the court’s decision,” Moore said. “To me it seems like they’ve almost taken race and made it the primary issue. The communities of interest went by the wayside.”
Moore believes the legislatures should be the ones in charge of drawing the maps, not the courts.
“Honestly I’m concerned about the courts weighing in so heavily across the country when we have really tight majorities,” he said. “You’re talking about a three- or four-seat majority in Congress and they’re trying to eliminate basically one of the Republicans in Alabama.”
The congressman said he has enjoyed being in Congress, but can’t make any final decisions on what to do next until the final map has been approved.
“We really love the people, love the constituents, and appreciate the state that we serve in,” he said. “We’re praying through this, and that’s not just tongue and cheek, we really seek the Lord in what we do … and so we will take things gradually. We certainly enjoy serving. It’s certainly on honor to do this job, as so we’re taking it one day at a time.
“We don’t have a map until October 4th honestly, and so we’ve got some time and we’ll take our time in making a decision.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
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