National Democrats are coming to Alabama this week to stump for congressional candidate Shomari Figures in hopes of achieving a rare flip of a U.S. House seat that has been in Republican hands for 14 years.
The first of those visits came Sunday in Montgomery, with Texas Democratic U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett first participating in a round table at a Baptist church and then later meeting with students at Alabama State University.
She said that Figures’ detractors, including Republican opponent Caroleene Dobson, are more interested in talking about “distractions” than Alabama’s issues and potential importance before voting on Nov. 5.
“Alabama, a lot of people will pretend you don’t matter,” Crockett said during a discussion she participated along with U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham; Figures’ wife and consultant Kalisha Dessources Figures; and Tamika Reed, wife of Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed.
“But you do,” said Crockett, co-chair of the presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris and running mate Gov. Tim Walz. “The last time I checked, Alabama is not a battleground. But this seat is. At the end of the day, (Harris) needs help in the House as well as the Senate.”
Washington ties
The stakes are high, and the margins are tight, not only in the presidential race but also the contest for control of the U.S. House.
The Republicans, who enjoy an eight-seat advantage, are locked in a tense battle for control of the chamber with Democrats. The outcome could be razor thin, with some predicting that the political party that controls the chamber of the next two years could come down to a single seat.
Figures will campaign this week with former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder in Mobile on Monday and will join U.S. House Minority Leader and New York Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries in Montgomery on Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, speaks during a panel discussion in support of the Shomari Figures campaign on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2024, at the Pilgrim Rest Missionary Baptist Church in Montgomery, Ala.John Sharp
“Alabama’s delegation needs Shomari,” said Sewell, the lone Democrat and only the third Black person elected from Alabama to serve in Congress. “He’s not going to blindly follow me or blindly follow Hakeem (Jeffries, the House Minority Leader) or Kamala. He’s a smart, intelligent person from this district who has seen Washington, and been to Washington. I’m begging you to please send Shomari Figures to Washington.”
Figures has been labeled a “Washington insider” by his opponent, Republican Caroleene Dobson, throughout the campaign.
A Dobson campaign spokesperson continued to criticize Figures for his Capitol City connections on Sunday.
“Washington insiders who caused high inflation, open borders and runaway crime are coming to campaign for a fellow Washington insider who helped them cause high inflation, open borders and runaway crime,” said Drew Dickson of the Dobson campaign. “That ought to pack the crowds to the rafters in Alabama.”
But in speaking to the media in Mongomery following the panel discussion, Figures said his Washington ties are an advantage.
“People want to know how you can leverage your experience to resolve those issues,” Figures, a Mobile resident, said about issues such as health care and education. His most recent Washington, D.C. experience includes a recent stint as the deputy chief of staff and counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland in the Department of Justice.
“How can you take what you’ve done throughout your career, whether it’s resources or networks and skills and talent, and take it and put it to use to get me a hospital in Macon County,” Figures said, who then invoked former University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban by saying that even the famed football recruiter “cannot close a recruiting pitch to bring new jobs to a community when that pitch begins with, we don’t we have a hospital? I’ve been fortunate to work all three branches of federal government throughout my career.”
Sewell defended Figures and his background, saying it can be beneficial to have Beltway ties prior to being elected. She said her own ties to Washington were beneficial before she was first elected to Congress serving the 7th district in 2010. Sewell, while attending Princeton University, interned with both Sens. Richard Shelby and Howell Heflin.
“The fact of the matter is (Figures) grew up in this district,” Sewell said. “I can tell you growing up in my district and having priori experience in Washington was helpful in getting a good committee and sitting at the negotiating tables and to be bipartisan in your effort to move things forward.”
She added, “Not everything is partisanship. I think it’s good for Alabama to be represented by both parties. Not just one party, but both parties.”
Negative campaigning
A mailer that was sent out in the 2nd congressional district paid for by the Alabama Republican Party. The mailer attempts to tie Democratic congressional candidate Shomari Figures to Vice President Kamala Harris on the issue of transgender rights.supplied image
Dobson’s name did not come up at all during the event in Montgomery. Her campaign was only addressed by Crockett while speaking with the media.
Crockett called her campaign a “loser,” and blasted a recent mailer circulating in the 2nd district that distorts Figures’ face with a statement that reads, “Look Closer, Man or Woman? In Their World, It Doesn’t Matter. On the Transgender Agenda, Shomari Figures and Kamala Harris are the same.”
“When you don’t have an agenda, you put out nonsense, you throw mud, and lie and misrepresent where a person stands,” Crockett said. “If you have policy ideas, you’d send out mail on those amazing policy ideas on how better the lives of those in Alabama District 2. But when you send out mail that (alters) his likeness and goes after a community already marginalized, it tells me that you’ll be a rubber stamp for (Donald) Trump and … you’ve decided you’ll take us back instead of moving us forward. And finally, that you are about the life of distractions.”
The mailer was paid for by the Alabama Republican Party, which did not immediately response to a request for comment Sunday.
The 2nd District candidates have faced off in two heated debates in recent weeks, one of which was hosted by AL.com and sponsored by AARP.
The contest has grown bitter, with Figures blasting Dobson for her wealth and being out-of-touch with the voters in the mostly rural and poor congressional district. Dobson claims Figures is, himself, rich and more aligned with outsiders in federal government.
During the most recent debate on Thursday, Dobson repeatedly linked Figures to a “far-left D.C. ideology” that includes gender-affirming care. Figures said there are more important issues in the newly drawn district than “sex changes.”
Figures called the mailer “a lot of noise.”
“We’ve not spent this campaign talking about my opponent,” he said. “We don’t call her name often. (Voters) don’t want to hear about her. They want to know what your issues are, what you’ll do about them when going to Washington, D.C. We’ve seen the other side going very negative … but we are keeping the eye on the ball.”
The 2nd congressional district provides a rare opportunity for Alabama voters this year. It’s the first time in 14 years in which a General Election race for a seat in the U.S. House is considered competitive. The last time that occurred was in 2010, when Republican Martha Roby flipped the 2nd district red by narrowly defeating incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Bobby Bright.
The dynamics of the district were changed by a three-judge panel almost a year ago to reshape it into a congressional seat that gives Black voters an opportunity to elect a candidate of their choosing.
That ruling followed a U.S. Supreme Court decision in Allen v. Milligan that said Alabama should have at least two congressional districts made up of a majority of voters who are Black.
