A retired state worker and executive with an organization that advocates for people with intellectual and development disabilities is running for the Alabama Congressional District 1 seat that has shifted further to the right after the recent court-ordered redistricting.

Matt Holmes, 78, of Mobile, said his campaign will focus on how Washington, D.C., and the two Republican incumbents have “failed to adequately represent average Alabamians and their families” and how they have continued to divide the nation.

As of Friday afternoon, he was the only Democrat qualified to run in the 1st congressional district race.

“We need new leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives,” Holmes said. “On my honor, I will do my best to do my duty to God and my country. I will fight for working families, equal opportunities, and justice for all.”

Holmes said he is best equipped to represent all the interests of the residents in the 1st district. He retired from state government work in 2001. He retired in 2014, as a leader with The Arc of Alabama as “a leader and advocate for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families at the local, state and federal levels.”

He is the current board president of The Arc of Mobile County, which he helped organize in 2019. Holmes is BSA Troop leader in Mobile, and is a lector and lay eucharistic minister at Trinity Episcopal Church in Mobile.

“I will work with Alabama’s congressional delegation members to identify issues and problems in our federal government facing Alabama families and build consensus in developing and implementing solutions,” Holmes said. “I believe that members of the Alabama congressional delegation can work together across party lines and other barriers to develop solutions and to resolve our state and national problems in the best public interest and for the common good.”

Holmes has run for office before. He lost the 2020 general election for the Alabama State Board of Education District 1 seat race against Republican Jackie Zeigler, 72.7% to 27.2%. He also lost in the 2018 general election in the Alabama State Senate District 35 race against incumbent Sen. David Sessions.

He faces an uphill battle next year. The 1st congressional district, long a reliable Republican district, became even more pro-Republican after it was redrawn into one of the most conservative in the country.

The new district is a whopping +28 advantage for Republicans, tied for the sixth most GOP-leaning congressional district in the country, according to analysis by Cook Political Report. Not long ago, it was the 75th most Republican district in the country. The sudden shift further rightward has enabled the district to leapfrog all the GOP strongholds in Texas, Georgia, and beyond.

The attention on the 1st district will be in the Republican Party primary which will be a rare battle of Alabama incumbents. Current 1st congressional district Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, will square off against current 2nd congressional district Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, during the March 5, 2024, primary. No other Republican, as of late Friday, had qualified to run.

Moore announced his candidacy for the 1st district seat late last month. He currently lives in the 2nd district, which was redrawn by a special master appointed by federal judges after the Alabama Legislature’s congressional map was found to be a violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The new map redrew Moore’s 2nd district to give Black voters an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice in a decision that had the back of a majority of the U.S. Supreme Court.