Former Republican presidential candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is endorsing Caroleene Dobson in Alabama’s 2nd congressional district race, to which her Democratic opponent Shomari Figures responded, “Who?”
Dobson’s campaign, in an email earlier Friday, praised the endorsement and said that Ramaswamy represented a “new generation of conservative leaders that understands the American dream is available to everyone regardless of their race, religion, or background.”
She said she hopes to emulate him in providing a “path that helps Americans utilize their skills, talents, and intellect to secure that dream and enjoy success in life.”
The two attended Harvard together around the same time; Ramaswamy graduated in 2007, while Dobson graduated in 2009. They both resided in the Kirkland House during the 2006-2007 college year.
Ramaswamy, in a statement provided by the Dobson campaign, said he was happy to hear Dobson “made the sacrifice” needed to run for the congressional seat.
Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District candidates Democrat Shomari Figures and Republican Caroleene Dobson faced off Thursday in a one-hour debate, streamed live on AL.com.(Al.com)AL.com
“I am so happy to hear Caroleene has made the sacrifice needed to run for not only public office but for Congress at a time at a time when we are going to have an historic opportunity to translate a conservative, America First agenda into practice,” Ramaswamy said. “Politics is not just about your views, it’s also about the person and somebody who is in there for the right reasons, and we need more of that.”
Dobson and Figures are locked in a tense battle for the 2nd district congressional seat on Nov. 5. Dobson is an attorney from Montgomery with the Maynard Nexsen law firm, where she is a shareholder. Figures is a former deputy chief of staff and counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland in the Department of Justice.
The two are facing off for a 2nd congressional district seat that provides a rare opportunity for Alabama voters this year in that 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.
The panel was empowered to redraw the district after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision in Allen v. Milligan, agreed with a lower court’s determination that Alabama should have at least another congressional district that Black voters were a majority or were close to it.
The state’s lone Black member of Congress is U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham, who represents the 7th district. About 27% of Alabama residents are Black, according to census data reported last year.
