Add a Jefferson County Commissioner’s name to the list of candidates who’ll vie for Alabama’s new District 2 congressional seat.

Sheila Tyson, the former Birmingham City Councilor who’s represented District 2 on the commission since 2018, says she’s still pondering a definitive decision but is excited about the possibility of representing Alabamians in Washington, D.C.

“I have been drafted [to run] by votes and elected officials since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Alabama’s congressional maps had to be redrawn to include a second Black opportunity district,” she said Thursday. “It’s time for Alabama’s Black Belt counties to have a seat at the table in Washington, D.C.. I’m confident I can continue to deliver for my people.”

Between 2013 and 2018, Tyson represented District 6 on the Birmingham City Council.

On Thursday, a three-judge federal court chose one of three maps drawn by a special master charged with creating at least two districts that provided Black Alabamians, who make up more than a quarter of the population, with a greater opportunity to choose the representative of their choice in more than one district.

In the map chosen, District 2—it traverses the full breadth of the state, dips South into Mobile County, and includes Montgomery and a swatch of the Black Belt—Blacks comprise 48.7% of residents, up from 40% on a map submitted by the Republican-dominated state legislature and summarily rejected by the court. An analysis of 17 prior elections provided by the special master showed candidates preferred by Blacks (far away usually Democrats) gained more votes than their Republican opponents on 16 occasions.

While Tyson lives outside the 2nd Congressional District that is allowed. The Constitution says that as long as someone is an Alabama resident for one day – and meets the Constitution’s age and U.S. citizenship requirements — he or she can run for U.S. House or Senate.

Others who’ve either expressed an interest in running or whose names have circulated as possible District 2 candidates include Montgomery Mayor Stephen Reed, State Sen. Merika Coleman (D-Birmingham), State Sen. Vivian Figures (D-Mobile), State Rep. Napoleon Bracy (D-Prichard), Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham), and State Senator Kirk Hatcher (D-Montgomery).

Related content:

· Congressional divorce occurring in South Alabama over redistricting

· Three-judge federal court picks Alabama congressional map

· Why are Birmingham lawmakers eyeing a run for Congress in South Alabama

· Who could be running in the open Alabama Congressional District 2 race?

· Congressional divorce occurring in South Alabama over redistricting

· State Sen. Singleton ‘looking forward to making a run’ for District 7 seat held by Sewell

· Johnson: Who will run for Alabama’s redrawn Congressional seat? My predictions, odds

The selection of a congressional map by the judges is the latest action following their decision last year finding that Alabama’s map, which had one majority Black district (District 7) out of seven, likely violates the Voting Rights Act.

This past June, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed.

The Legislature was allowed to draw a new map, which it approved in a special session. Yet the court found the lawmakers’ solution insufficient and ordered the special master to create three maps. They were submitted last month and discussed at a hearing on Tuesday.

On the new map, the Black voting-age population is 51.9% of residents.

Alabama Senate minority leader Bobby Singleton, who has represented the 24th District, which includes much of the Black Belt, since 2005, says he is “looking forward to making a run for the seventh congressional district.

The seat is currently held by Rep. Terri Sewell, who has represented the district in Washington, D.C. since 2011. Sewell has said she will run for re-election.

District 7 encompasses much of Jefferson County, including Birmingham, as well as large segments of the Black Belt and Selma, Sewell’s hometown.