Barry Moore Projected Winner In U.S. House District 2 Race

MONTGOMERY, AL — The race to fill Alabama's 2nd Congressional District has a projected winner in Republican Barry Moore. The Associated Press and New York Times each projected Moore the winner around 10 p.m.

Moore and Democrat Phyllis Harvey-Hall were seeking the seat after Rep. Martha Roby announced in 2019 she would not seek re-election, after holding the office since 2011.

As of 10 p.m., the vote tally:

• Phyllis Harvey-Hall: 92,791 votes
• Barry Moore: 156,210 votes

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Moore was a member of the Alabama House of Representatives, representing District 91 from 2010 to 2018. He was a candidate for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District in 2018 and lost the primary to Roby. Moore served as a member of the Army ROTC program and in the National Guard. He earned a B.S. from Auburn University.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said voter turnout in Alabama looks to be close to 70 percent, higher than the 63 percent the state reported in the 2016 election, and much more than the 30 percent in the primaries this year

Merrill also said absentee voting requests had passed 300,000 before Thursday's application deadline. More than 240,000 absentee ballots have been returned.

Absentee ballots received by the day of the election Nov. 3 will be opened for tabulation beginning at 7 a.m. that day, according to an order announced by Gov. Kay Ivey in September.

"I commend Governor Ivey for making the wise decision to allow for the processing of absentee ballots to begin at 7 a.m. on Election Day," Merrill said. "This accommodates the anticipated increase of absentee ballots and ensures that Alabama will continue to provide timely, unofficial election results on election night."

Roby's seat was the only one in Alabama that appeared in doubt going into the 2018 elections, as Roby failed to get a majority vote in the GOP primary, although she ended up defeating Democrat Tabitha Isner in the general election.

Alabama is expected to lose a congressional seat after the next census, and most believe the impact of that will leave District 2 with a much different demographic makeup.