CAMPAIGN 2024: Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed not running for Congress
CAMPAIGN 2024: Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed has announced that he will not run for Congress in 2024.
He made the announcement on social media Saturday morning.
In a post, Reed said that he had received encouragement to run, but “After deliberately evaluating where I could make the most positive impact, I have decided not to seek election to the United States House of Representatives.”
Thank you everyone for your support! SR pic.twitter.com/3t9nT8kFOY
— Mayor Steven L. Reed (@MayorofMgm) November 4, 2023
Action 8 News Political Analyst Steve Flowers says Reed would have been a favorite to win the 2nd District Congressional seat. The federal courts had redrawn the district lines to give Black Alabamians a greater chance at representation. The district includes Montgomery County and much of the state’s Black Belt region. Flowers says a candidate from Montgomery who is already well-known, as Reed is, would have had a good chance of winning. The new lines also give a Democratic candidate an advantage in what was once a heavily-Republican district.
However, Reed just won a second term as Montgomery Mayor in August. He is Montgomery’s first Black mayor and has received much national exposure since first winning the office in 2019.
Right now, the qualified candidates for the seat include Democratic State Rep. Jeremy Gray and Willie Leonard. Montgomery attorney Caroleene Dobson has qualified as a Republican.
Others who say they will run include State Sen. Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery) and State Rep. Napoleon Bracy (D-Prichard).
Current 2nd District Congressman Barry Moore, a Republican from Enterprise, no longer lives in the district after the lines were redrawn. He has decided not to try to keep his District 2 seat and instead challenge fellow Republican Congressman Jerry Carl (R-Mobile) in the 1st District.
Qualifying for the March 5 primaries ends at 5PM Friday, November 10.
