October 22nd , 2026 Len’s Political Note #850 Win in the Deep South
2026 General Election
Alabama? Louisiana? Mississippi? Can the Blue Wave engulf these Gulf states?
US SENATE
Alabama
A Republican organization funded the poll. Maybe you can cut the lead they found in half. In this poll published on October 1, Congressman Barry Moore led Attorney Everett Wess 54% to 33%.
Barry Moore tops his website with “Endorsed by President Trump!” He describes himself as a Trump Conservative, as the Fighter Alabama Needs in the US Senate, as Trusted by Alabama, Feared by The Swamp, His first issue is “zero tolerance for illegal immigration.” He supports the deportation of the 10 million illegal immigrants who have entered the US since 2020. Pew Research estimates that the number of unauthorized immigrants who entered the US between 2021 and 2025 was 3.5 million. Even if Barry Mooreexaggerates by more than a little, there were more than 15 million undocumented immigrants in the US when Trump began his draconian deportations. Everett Wess has a website. His first priority is “Safe Communities” for which economic opportunities, he says, is essential.
Barry Moore does not have a lot of cash on hand for this race — $600,000 on September 30. But Everett Wess’s $20,000 is not in his league. You could DONATE to Everett Wess and attempt to make a difference.
Louisiana
Can Farmer Jamie Davis of Louisiana do better against Republican Congresswoman Julia Letlow? The late September poll sure looks better for the Democratic candidate. In a poll funded by the Democratic candidate Jamie Davis , he trailed 48-44. Jamie Davis has run a colorful and interesting campaign. He does not always talk about being Black. Instead he says. “I’m not running to be another politician – I’m running to solve problems. I built a business, met a payroll, farm the same Delta ground my grandfather sharecropped, and served my neighbors on the Tensas Parish Policy Jury [County commission in states other than Louisiana]. I’ve spent my life finding common-sense solutions, because that’s what leadership takes.”
He compares himself to his opponent:
Funded by Louisianans – average gift $18.
Millions is Washington PAC donations
I work for the people – lower grocery, insurance, and utility bills
Works for [Governor] Jeff Landry and the special interests.
I’m against secret NDAs in development deals and landgrabs for industry.
Carbon pipelines taking family farms by eminent domain.
I won’t vote for hospital closings – I’ll work to expand access to affordable care
Your health care now costs more and covers less.
A common-sense problem solver that puts Louisiana First.
Loyal to Washington, not you.
Jamie Davis has proposals to make life more affordable. Here are his first five”
01 Bring real economic development to Louisiana communities – including good jobs in the small towns Washington leaves behind.
02 Roll back portions of the 2025 tax law that added as much as $4 trillion to the debt to cut taxes for billionaires.
03 Raise the Federal minimum wage – Louisiana’s is still $7.25 the federal floor since 2009.
04 build and create affordable housing opportunities – prioritize housing that working families can actually afford. And deliver real solutions to the housing insurance crisis that’s pricing people out of a roof over their heads.
05 Crack down on price-gouging at the pump when refiners post record profits and Louisiana drivers pay the bill.
And Julia Letlow’s first five priorities:
- Stand with President Trump
- Keep the Border Secure. (She doesn’t mention ICE)
- Secure our Elections
- Unleash American and Louisiana energy (She does not refer to record refinery profits)
- Grow Louisiana jobs and small businesses. (She notes that she was proud to help pass President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.”
Julia Letlow has a slight polling advantage over Jamie Davis. A late September poll had her leading 48-44. Julia Letlow also has a modest financial advantage for the final stretch. September 30 cash on hand, she had 1.4 million to Jamie’s Davis’ $950,000. He is doing a lot with what he’s got. Jamie Davis is not the favorite in this race, but he has a chance. DONATE. See Len’s Political Note #823
Mississippi
Scott Colom, running against an unpopular incumbent Senator, has caught the eye of pundits. They are unwilling to go out on a limb and say he has a chance to win. They won’t even move his race from Solid Republican to Likely republican. But they do say they are keeping an eye on him. We should, too.
The most recent poll Fiftyplusone reports is from October 14.. Scott Colom trailed incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith 52-48. An end of August poll that did not include independent and former Democratic nominee Ty Perkins gave Hyde-Smith a 47-41 lead. Include Ty Perkins in that poll, the results were 44-38-7.
Scott Colom says he has another poll. It does not show up in Fifty Plus One or the New York Times aggregate of polls. Does that poll include Ty Perkins? Perhaps. Scott Colom says this new poll has him tied with Cindy Hyde-Smith.
Do not ignore him. Scott Colom is a Black man who has repeatedly been elected District Attorney in a predominantly white District. He is a law and order DA and a law and order candidate for the Senate. No one attacks him for being too soft on perpetrators. His dad was an active Republican from the days before the Great Voter Shift for southern whites from Democrat to Republican. His was even a Republican nominee for state-wide office.
Scott Colom’s Issues? Lower Costs by eliminating Trump’s tariffs, by requiring a Congressional vote to go to war, and by ensuring a Senate agriculture committee sympathetic is Mississippi farmers. Increase income by raising the federal minimum wage and by eliminating the federal income tax for people earning less than $75,000 per year. Save Healthcare by cancelling Medicaid cuts, restore Affordable Care Act tax credits, and restore and strengthen incentives for Mississippi and other states to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
Cindy-Hyde Smith’s issues? Her top three? Support the 2nd Amendment, Balance the [federal] budget, Repeal Obamacare.
Cindy Hyde-Smith has had a financial edge through the campaign. On September 30, she had $2.4 million for the final stretch to Scott Colom’s $1 million. He has made good use of the money he has had. National commentators do not go predict a win for him, but they tell us all to watch that race. Don’t just watch. DONATE to Scott Colom. Help him finish strong. See Len’s Political Note #764
Governor — Louisiana and Mississippi elect Governors the year before the Presidential election. That means 2027.
Alabama elects a governor every four years, even numbered years when there is no Presidential election. That means 2026.
Doug Jones and Len Lubinsky
The Governor’s race should not be like the US Senate race. Doug Jones, a former US Attorney in Alabama, was elected to complete the last two years of a six year term of US Senator in Alabama. Granted, Doug Jones defeated a man that most Alabamans had come to believe was a child molester. Granted, two years later, Tommy Tuberville clobbered Doug Jones for a six year term.
A substantial number of people in Washington have come to believe Tommy Tuberville, who misidentified the three branches of government, is not too bright. And maybe, perhaps based on his extensive stock trading, just a little corrupt. There is only one poll for the Governor race, reported on October 1. According to the Republican Funded poll, Tommy Tuberville led Doug Jones 50-37. Cut that-thirteen point lead in half. Call it a six point lead. Can Doug Jones make up a six or seven-point lead in a month?
Doug Jones Priorities
A one year moratorium on data centers so Alabama can write the rules first, what Alabama should have done on prisons, pipelines, and coal ash before signing its name.
Lower costs and attack the affordability crisis by suspending the gas tax and eliminating taxes on groceries; by increasing the minimum wage and renewing the “no tax on overtime.”
Make the public utility commission accountable to the people by pushing for real public representation at commission meetings.
In his campaign website, Tommy Tuberville describes no priorities except to be elected. He complains that the left is donating millions to take him down. He does have his views, even if they are not in focus on his campaign website.. Mobile Today reports that Tuberville opposes a data center moratorium, but believes that local communities should have a say. He would impose a four year freeze on electricity rates to moderate the impact of data centers. Tuberville opposes abortion and would ensure that no taxpayer funds support an abortion. He supports gun rights and would allow no further restrictions on gun ownership. He promises to work with President Trump on deporting illegal immigrants. He argues that Trump would be helpful to an Alabama led by a Republican, but would not be helpful to the state if Doug Jones were governor. As for the recently prosperous Northern Alabama which appears to be leaning Democratic, Tommy Tuberville says these people who have been educated in Communist and socialist schools need reeducation in Alabama’s political culture.
DONATE to Doug Jones campaign and, in his own words, help “take down Tommy Tuberville.” See Len’s Political Note #779
OTHER ALABAMA STATE RACES
Lt. Governor. – Democrat State Rep Phillip Ensler is a civil rights attorney and the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Alabama. His proposals to make Alabama more affordable are consistent with those of Doug Jones, though he adds a proposal for a state lottery. The Republican nominee is an ex-state rep, chair of the state Republican Party and butterfly breeder John Wahl. He wants to protect Alabamans’ rights by limiting the power of bureaucrats over their lives. He would eliminate red tape to attract new businesses. He would balance budgets, cut out waste, and eliminate the grocery tax.
Attorney General — Ex State Rep Democrat Jeff McLaughlin went to Birmingham Southern, taught school, went to Harvard Law School and came home. He served in the legislature, never asked for or took a donation, and made a reputation as an independent. He had been a law partner of the outgoing attorney general Steve Marshall. Though for a state wide race, Jeff McLaughlin will take donations, he promises to retain that same independence. Katherine Robertson became the Republican nominee after a bitter primary in which she and a Supreme Court Justice spent more than $4 million each. She was the Chief Counsel to the retiring Attorney General. During that time, she says she fought against “Joe Biden’s federal overreach, the radical left’s attacks on women’s sports, [for] free speech and the sanctity of life,” DONATE to Jeff McLaughlin’s campaign.
Secretary of state. Attorney and Activist Wayne Rogers. To the best of my knowledge, he is not related to Wayne Rogers who played Trapper on MASH and was born in Birmingham, Alabama, well north of where the lawyer/politican Wayne Rogers was born. The lawyer got to be a lawyer because he served as a witness about a bank robbery that occurred not long after he graduated from high school. One bank robber held a gun to his head while he and others completed their crime. Wayne Rogers had a career as an Assistant US Attorney, as an advocate for crisis intervention training for police while in private practice, and as a leader of the Alabama Democratic Party. The Republican nominee Attorney and Rancher Caroleene Dobson, with a BA from Harvard and JD from Baylor, ran unsuccessfully for congress before turning her interest to Secretary of State. DONATE to Wayne Rogers.
State Auditor – Democrat Violet Edwards had a career in radio and television where she earned awards for investigative reporting. She turned to politics and was elected the first Black Commissioner for Madison County (that is Huntsville). She is running against incumbent Andrew Sorrell. Considered one of the most conservative Alabama elected officials, Sorrell approached his office with a tight fist. Starting at age 16, he has been an entrepreneur and now owns part of four businesses. One of his goals is to expand the role of the Voter Registration Advisory Board to include election integrity. He seems to think that since 95% of eligible Alabama voters are registered, there is capacity for the additional work. Interestingly, KFF, an independent research organization, says that the United States as a whole, 74% of the voting population is registered to vote. KFF breaks the numbers down by state and reports that the figure for Alabama is 69%. On that basis alone (though there are more reasons to oppose extremist Andrew Sorrll), I encourage you to DONATE to Violet Edwards’ campaign.
State Treasurer – Democrat Roslyn Houston is a retired banker and, complementarily, a pastor. She explains that the state treasurer is the state’s banker. The Treasurer holdz and invests the state’s money, manages the state’s bonds and other debt, safeguards the state Trust Fund and various other funds. After a career at the Spanish bank Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, she spent another two years with Santander Bank and then came to Birmingham where she was Board Chair and Interim President of the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. She is running against a Republican with the unforgettable name of Young Boozer (Young Boozer III, actually and he is 77 years old). He spent 35 years in banking working for Citibank among others. Retired, he became Deputy State Finance Director for Alabama, was elected State Treasurer for two terms, left to become Superintendent of the State Banking Department, and then was elected again as State Treasurer in 2022. DONATE to Roslyn Houston’s campaign.
Alabama has been a Republican state for quite a while. Democrat Doug Jones brings a special appeal. If the Blue Wave reaches Alabama and carries him into the Governorship, it is possible that other candidates would also be successful. Ron Sparks has worked for Doug Jones. If elected as Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries and Doug Jones were both elected, they would be serious partners in improving life in rural Alabama.
State commissioner of Agriculture and Industries. Ron Sparks joined the Coast Guard after he graduated from high school. After serving in the Caribbean and along the Tennessee River, he completed his service and got an AA degree from Northeast Alabama Community College. Despite his inability to raise money (he sold furniture and his gun to support his campaign), he ran for and was elected a Commissioner of DeKalb county. Subsequently he worked on creating and making the 911 system effective in Alabama. In 1999, he was appointed Deputy Agriculture and Industries Commissioner and was elected Commissioner in 2002 and reelected in 2006, He worked on country labelling for food, created state testing laboratories, and helped those raising cattle avoid mad cow disease.
Term-limited, Ron Sparks ran unsuccessfully for Governor in 2010. Republican Governor Robert Bentley appointed him to head the newly created Rural Development Agency. In 2018, after newly elected Governor Ivey abolished the agency and eliminated Ron Sparks’ job, he became Senator Doug Jones Regional Director for the Alabama Middle District.
The Republican candidate for Commissioner is Corey Hill – mayor of Douglas (a town with fewer than 1,000 people), cattle and poultry farmer, and grocery store owner, he prefers as few regulations as possible, but would resurrect a police force to deal with rural crime. DONATE to Ron Sparks’ campaign. He is a complement to Doug Jones and has a deep enough history in Alabama politics to win on his own.
CONGRESS
Alabama
AL 02. Shomari Figures’ campaign for election to a second term is more challenging than for most first year members of Congress. The Alabama legislature responded to the Supreme Court’s Louisiana decision creating even greater freedom to eliminate majority Black districts and changed Alabama 02 from 48.7% Black by making it a compact, rural, southeastern Alabama district and eliminating the district’s connection with Mobile in southwest Alabama. Is that enough of a change to take down first term Shomari Figures? Rural Alabama still has a relatively high Black population.
After completing his law degree at the University of Alabama, and after a clerkship, Shomari Figures worked on Barack Obama’s reelection campaign in 2012 as a field organizer in Ohio. After the election, he served in the Personnel Office of the White House and then as the liaison to Attorney General Loretta Lynch. He went on to serve as Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown’s legislative counsel and then as a counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Shomari Figures came by his political interest naturally. His dad, Michael Figures, was a civil rights attorney who won a $7 million award from the United Klans of America, bankrupting the organization in a suit in which he represented the mother of a young man who had been lynched. Michael Figures was an Alabama state senator from 1978 to his death in 1996. He was succeeded by his wife, Shomari’s mom and Mobile City Councilor Vivian Davis Figures.
The Republican nominee for Alabama 02 is Rhett Marques. Born in the Town of Spanish Fort outside Mobile, he is a state rep and owns a tire and auto repair business in the town of Enterprise. He says the Congressional choice is between “craziness and common sense.” He describes Alabama common sense as “keeping boys out of girls’ locker rooms, making sure our streets are safe for our children to play on, protecting the faith and family values we pass down to the next generation, and standing up to the communists who want the government controlling every part of our lives.”
Shomari Figures has three more prosaic issues: building Alabama’s economy, creating access to healthcare by expanding Medicaid expansion, and improving education. Shomari Figures has a financial edge. On September 30, he had $1.4 million cash on hand. Marques had $300,000. The most recent polls — both Democratic funded in July and August — had the two candidates tied. DONATE to Shomari Figures’ campaign. He can win this race and remain in Congress. See Len’s Political Note #832
Louisiana
When 2026 began, Louisiana had departed from its all party primary system and expected to have a first round of primaries on May 16 and a second round of primaries for the top two primary vote getters in May on June 27. When the US Supreme Court declared its districts to be an unconstitutional gerrymander designed to elect two Black Members of Congress, Louisiana revised its districts and its timing. For 2026, each party will have a primary on election day, November 3. There will be a general election of primary winners on December 12. Louisiana is now expected to elect 5 Republicans and one Democrat on December 12. Although there are Republicans and Democrats running in each Congressional district, none of those races are expected to be competitive.
Mississippi
This state has four Congressional districts. Three are majority white and are safely Republican. One is majority Black and safely Democratic. Mississippi is 58% non-Hispanic white and 38% Black. If the state had five Members of Congress, a proportionate representation would be 3 majority white districts and 2 majority Black districts. But that does not exist. We cannot expect a competitive race in any of Mississippi’s four congressional districts. On the other hand, the state-wide race for the US Senate looks competitive.
STATE LEGISLATURES
Louisiana and Mississippi will have its elections in 2027.
Alabama
Alabama State Senate and a State House of Representatives: The State Senate has 35 members. 27 are Republicans, 8 are Democrats. Democrats would need to flip 5 State Senate seats to eliminate the Republican supermajority. I have no recommendations to make.
Alabama’s House of Representatives has 105 members: 76 Republicans and 29 Democrats. Democrats would need to flip 7 seats to eliminate the Republican supermajority. I have no recommendations to make here either.
