Alabamians will head to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to vote in this year’s midterm election. Several prominent races will be on this year’s ballot — including the races for governor and other statewide offices, as well as for the U.S. House of Representatives.

Alabamians have a choice between Republican nominee and current U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Democratic nominee and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones in Tuesday’s governor’s race — a rematch between the two candidates who ran against each other in the 2020 senate race. 

Recent polling has forecast a close race between Tuberville and Jones, with Democratic-aligned polling firm Chism Strategies finding Tuberville leading Jones 48% to 45%. Other recent polls have forecast Tuberville leading by a wider margin, but still forecast a Republican downturn statewide. 

Strategists have pointed to several factors making this year’s race particularly close. Some cite the growing Democratic presence in Madison County — which has had a population boom and become one of Alabama’s most populous counties over the past several years — as giving a boost to Jones and other Democratic candidates. Other strategists have pointed to greater Democratic turnout and lower Republican turnout in this year’s primary election as an indicator of Democratic excitement and Republican apathy for this year’s races.

Still, Tuberville leads Jones in campaign fundraising by roughly $10 million. Tuberville has raised more than $16 million in donations. Roughly 53% of Tuberville’s campaign funds were donated by individuals, while nearly 46% came from businesses and groups. About 1% of Tuberville’s campaign contributions has come from PACs.

Jones, on the other hand, has raised more than $6 million in funds, with roughly 98% of his contribution coming from individuals. Another 1% of Jones’s contributions stem from businesses and 1% of contributions from PACs.

Also on Tuesday’s ballot will be congressional races for the U.S. House of Representatives. This will be the first general election for congress since Alabama legislators redrew Congressional Districts 1, 2, 6 and 7 to benefit Republicans. This year’s races will be:

• Republican nominee and former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl and Democratic nominee Clyde Jones in District 1.
• Democratic nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures and Republican nominee and former state Rep. Rhett Marques in District 2.
• Republican nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers and Democratic nominee Lee McInnis in District 3.
• Republican nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt and Democratic nominee Amanda Pusczek in District 4.
• Republican nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. Dale Strong and Democratic nominee Andrew Sneed in District 5.
• Republican nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer and Democratic nominee Maurice Mercer in District 6.
• Democratic nominee and incumbent U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell and Republican nominee Ammie Akin in District 7.

The race in District 2 between Figures and Marques is predicted to be a close-race, with some forecasters calling the race a toss-up between the two candidates.

To find out what will be on your ballot on Tuesday, find a sample ballot for your county on the Alabama Secretary of State’s website. You can check your voter registration status and locate your polling place on the Secretary of State’s website as well. To vote in Alabama, poll-goers must bring a valid photo ID on Election Day.

Alabama top stories in brief

State House Speaker calls for stop to Escambia prison project

• Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, the speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives, last week in a letter to Gov. Kay Ivey called for construction on a new prison in Escambia County to stop.
• Ledbetter called for the project to halt amid rising costs and in light of continued delays on the completion of a new prison in Elmore County. In the letter, Ledbetter said the Ivey administration ignored “every request from the Legislature to press pause” on prison projects.
• “Committing taxpayers to another major financial obligation under these circumstances, without first addressing the cost overruns, delays, and apparent failures in project management, is an unacceptable risk to public funds and a failure of fiscal responsibility,” Ledbetter wrote.
• The state recently sold $190 million worth of bonds to finance the Escambia prison project.
• In 2021, the legislature approved $1.3 billion to build new prisons in Elmore and Escambia Counties. However, construction of the Elmore County prison has surpassed that total budget, with members of the Alabama Corrections Institution Finance Authority saying the project will cost an estimated $2.2 billion by the time it is expected to be completed next year.

City of Mobile scammed for $14.7 million, may be largest fraud of its kind to hit U.S. city

• The city of Mobile confirmed that it has been defrauded for $14.7 million in a fraudulent vendor-payment scheme, in what might be the largest publicly documented scheme of its type to hit a U.S. city.
• A fake vendor that claimed to be affiliated with Birmingham-based B.L. Harbert International, the general contractor for Mobile’s ongoing $300 million Regions Arena project, reached out to the city in May according to city leaders’ account of the scam,
• The scammers were then able to build a relationship with city employees and gain information about the project before they issued a fraudulent request for payment for $14.7 million. The city paid the scammers for that amount in early October.
• In the wake of the scam, Mobile Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis confirmed that one employee has been fired, while two others have been placed on administrative leave while the FBI investigates.
• The scam has led to scrutiny from members of the Mobile City Council. The council plans to vote next week on creating an ad hoc committee focused on financial transaction security.

State library board sued over trans book restrictions

• Three children’s book authors have joined anti-censorship organization Read Freely Alabama to sue the Alabama Public Library Service over its restriction on books featuring transgender characters.
• “The APLS Board’s own subjective judgments about what is appropriate should not determine what materials all Alabamians can access,” Angie Hayden, co-founder and publications director of Read Freely Alabama, said in a press statement.
• Kit Rosewater, Page Powars and Phoenix McDonald are the three authors involved in the lawsuit. Each have written children’s books featuring transgender characters that have been affected by APLS’s rule against shelving books with transgender characters in children’s sections of libraries.
• The suit alleges that the APLS rule is overbroad and vague and engages in content-based discrimination.

Huntsville state senator involved in data center land sales

• State Sen. Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, served as the closing attorney in the sale of city land for a 3.5 million-square-foot Meta data center development in North Huntsville, according to court records.
• Givhan acted as a representative for the city of Huntsville in five transactions between the city, Madison County and data center developer Starbelt LLC between 2018 to 2022.
• As the city’s attorney, Givhan helped finalize the sale of 455 acres of city land to Starbelt for $16,566,563.
• Givhan, who is up for reelection this year, has campaigned on opposing data center development in the Tennessee Valley area. 
• In an interview, Givhan told Alabama Political Reporter that the Meta facility is “not the typical data center on a number of fronts,” saying the city has not received noise complaints about the facility and pointing out that the project was developed on city land that was already zoned for industrial usage.

Articles you may have missed

• With elections tomorrow, make sure to read up on everything you need to know! Check out our breakdown of the four amendments on the ballot and what they mean, and read our article reviewing the platforms of the two candidates for governor. 
• Fall is in full swing and so is fall bird migration. Check out this guide to what birds you can expect to pass through Alabama this winter and how you can get in on the birdwatching fun.

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