Former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl framed his campaign to return to Congress as a matter of trusted experience — and after winning the Republican nomination in the special primary, the Mobile County Republican is now positioned to try to reclaim the seat he held for four years.
Carl won the GOP nomination in the 1st Congressional District’s special primary on Aug. 11, defeating realtor Lucas Burger, retired Navy pilot John Mills and Fairhope businessman Austin Sidwell in the four-candidate race. Because Daphne minister Clyde Jones ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, Republican ballots were the only ones available in the primary, and the candidate with the most votes took the nomination outright.
The unusual midsummer election traces to the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling in Allen v. Milligan, which allowed Alabama to discard a court-ordered congressional map and adopt a different one that federal judges had previously deemed unconstitutional in 2023. Ballots cast in the May primary were voided, and voters in Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia and Covington counties returned to the polls in August.
The road back
Carl represented the district from 2021 to 2025, but lost his seat to U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, after District 1 was reconfigured to include the Wiregrass counties. Rather than retire, Carl set his sights on returning to elected office, entering the special election for the redrawn district.
The former Mobile County commissioner said “affordability, without a doubt,” is the biggest issue facing the district. If elected, he said he would work to reduce fuel, utility and food costs by recruiting new companies with higher wages to South Alabama.
Where he stands on the big local issues
On data centers — a live controversy in the district, where residents have voiced concern that large facilities planned for Calvert and Prichard could raise utility bills and harm the environment — Carl was cautious, saying he wants more information before forming a view.
“I want to learn more about the data centers before I make my mind up,” he said. “People have also got to keep in mind China has spent a lot of money running campaigns to try to keep us from building these data centers. There’s got to be a reason there.”
On the I-10 Mobile River Bridge, Carl said he is “strictly against tolls” but acknowledged that charges may be necessary to get the long-delayed, multibillion-dollar project started. “We’ve got to raise more money,” he said. “I’d love to figure out a way to do it without tolls.”
On the 21 million tons of coal ash Alabama Power has buried along the Mobile River at Plant Barry, Carl said the company has done everything the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told it to do, and with the EPA poised to approve the utility’s plan to cap the ash in place, he added: “If both sides can live with it, I can live with it.”
The money race he won
Carl entered the final stretch of the primary with a commanding financial lead. Federal Election Commission reports filed as of July 22 showed $1.16 million in contributions and more than $865,000 spent, with no personal loans to his campaign.
His rivals lagged far behind: Sidwell reported more than $199,000 in contributions, including about $129,000 in personal loans, and expenditures of more than $194,000; Mills reported roughly $18,000, including about $16,500 in personal loans, with more than $15,000 spent; and Burger had no campaign registered with the FEC.
What’s next
With the nomination secured, Carl advances to face Jones in the November general election — a rematch of the general election match-up that was originally scheduled before redistricting scrambled the calendar. The district remains heavily Republican, but Carl’s comeback bid now runs through a four-month general election campaign in a district that has been redrawn twice in three years.