A vote for Jerry Carl in the Congressional District 1 primary election is a vote for years of trusted experience, the former member of the U.S. House of Representatives said.
On Tuesday, Aug. 11, voters in Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia and Covington counties will head to the polls in a special election made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Allen v. Milligan in June. That decision allowed Alabama to discard a court-ordered congressional voting district map that had split the Gulf Coast, instead using a different map federal judges had previously deemed unconstitutional in 2023.
Ballots for the Democratic Party will not include a primary contest because Daphne minister Clyde Jones is the party’s sole candidate in Congressional District 1. Carl, John Mills, Austin Sidwell and Lucas Burger are on the Republican Party ballot. The candidate with the most votes will win; no runoff will be held.
Carl previously represented District 1 in the U.S. House from 2021 to 2025, but was defeated by U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, after the district was reconfigured to include the Wiregrass counties.
Despite that defeat, Carl said he never lost sight of returning to elected office. The former Mobile County commissioner said “affordability, without a doubt,” is the biggest issue in the district. If elected, Carl said he would work to reduce fuel, utility and food costs by recruiting new companies with higher wages to South Alabama.
Carl was reluctant to weigh in on local concerns about data centers planned for Calvert and Prichard, which some residents fear will raise utility bills and harm the environment. “I want to learn more about the data centers before I make my mind up,” Carl said.
While he said he is “strictly against tolls,” Carl said charges for the forthcoming I-10 bridge over the Mobile River may be necessary to get the long-delayed project started this year. “We’ve got to raise more money,” he said. “I’d love to figure out a way to do it without tolls.”
Campaign finance reports from the Federal Election Commission show Carl leading the race by a large margin. As of Wednesday, July 22, Carl had received $1.16 million in contributions and spent more than $865,000, with no personal loans to his campaign. Burger does not have a campaign registered with the FEC. Sidwell has more than $199,000 in his campaign coffers, including roughly $129,000 in personal loans, and has spent more than $194,000. Mills’ campaign has received more than $18,000 in donations, including roughly $16,500 in personal loans, and has spent more than $15,000.