Second District

Alabama’s Second Congressional District covers the southeast quarter of the state. It contains a rich, southern history with historic structures, small towns, and family farms that predate the Civil War. Home to the thriving cities of Montgomery and Dothan, two major military installations, thousands of acres of fertile farmland, and a wide range of local businesses, its landscape easily transitions between countryside, to Main Street, to metropolitan. It includes 16 counties: Autauga, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Elmore, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lowndes, Pike, and much of Montgomery county. 

A region known for its defense facilities—and the courageous men and women that have served our country in uniform—the Second District houses several critical military installations and units. Fort Rucker, Maxwell Air Force Base and the Gunter Annex and the 187th Fighter Wing are all located in the district. Fort Rucker, in Dale County, is the Home of Army Aviation and the U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence. Maxwell Air Force Base, in Montgomery, serves as the headquarters of Air University (AU), a major component of the Air Education and Training Command (AETC), and is the U.S. Air Force's center for Joint Professional Military Education (PME). Also located in Montgomery is the host wing for Maxwell-Gunter, the 42d Air Base Wing (42 ABW), and the 908th Airlift Wing (908 AW).

To the southeast, you will find the historic Wiregrass region of the district—named for the “wire” texture of the local grass. Here sits the city of Dothan, one of the first cities to secure a stop on the first railroad built through this region in 1893. Earning the title of “Peanut Capital of the World,” the city of Dothan hosts the annual National Peanut Festival to honor peanut growers and to celebrate the harvest season. 

Approximately half of the peanuts grown in the United States are cultivated within a 100-mile radius of the city of Dothan. Peanuts replaced cotton here as the leading production crop after the cotton crop was devastated by the Boll weevil in the early 1900s. The city of Enterprise, in the heart of the Wiregrass, marked this event by erecting a well-recognized monument in its downtown center to celebrate the Boll weevil as the "herald of prosperity". 

Another unique landmark in the Second District is the Glenwood Well. The Well has been flowing since the early 1900's, and it is historically called “nature’s healing balm”. Drinking from it is said to ensure a long and prosperous life. 

The north part of the Second District contains Montgomery, the Capital of Alabama. The city played an important part in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott and the historic 1965 Selma to Montgomery march to promote voting rights. The Civil Rights Memorial Center in downtown Montgomery features a historic account of Alabama’s role in the crusade for equality and justice in the law.