This fall, the Lede is reaching out to your elected representatives and asking what they’re anticipating for the 2024 session and what they’re doing to stay in touch with constituents until then.

This week District 60 Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D- Birmingham, answered some questions about what’s on her mind for the upcoming session.

Is there anything you learned in your first year as a representative that was surprising to you?

You know, I’ve been there 14 years. In 14 years, you learn a lot, you see a lot, nothing is a shocker for me with regards to what happens. Because I’ve been there through so much of the bad and the ugly. And for me, I’m always walking into those chambers where there’s expectations that something will get a little bit crazier than usual.

But if I could add this. It wasn’t the session. It was the special session that came about just shortly after we recessed, relative to the drawing of the [congressional] maps. And that process ultimately turned out to be a complete defiance of the court order to redraw those district boundaries. And that surprised me that we had become the first legislature ever directed by the courts to redraw those district lines and we didn’t. That surprised me. That was shocking.