‘Racial Dog Whistle’, ‘Fearmongering’: Mailers Fuel Alabama’s Congressional Race

The head of Alabama’s Republican Party and Democratic congressional candidate Shomari Figures are criticizing each other this week over two controversial mailers paid for by the state political party that circulated through the district in the final week of the campaign.

One of the mailers is also drawing sharp criticism from representatives of the LGBTQ community for superimposing a distorted image of Figures’ face over the distorted image of Vice President Kamala Harris’ face with the caption: “Look closer, man or woman? In their world it doesn’t matter. On the transgender agenda, Shomari Figures and Kamala Harris are the same.”

“These mailers are absolutely disgusting,” said Kaitlyn Burkett, co-manager of Trans Pride of Mobile. “Targeting your attack on your opponent based on the fact that they may be standing up for a marginalized, disadvantaged community that deserves constitutional protections and not political persecution is appalling.”

The second mailer questions the figures’ support for clemency initiatives that cause criminals to reoffend, including a photo of a black man with the message: “Supports releasing dangerous criminals like a revolving door on the streets of Alabama. Now Alabama is in danger.”

Figures called the mailer a “racial dog whistle.”

Figures also go against the Republican Party in Alabama, which says the past two decades of Republican leadership in the state has led to one of the lowest life expectancies in the U.S., and low rankings in worker wages, literacy rates children and high violent crime rates, while the rest of the country is experiencing a decline.

“Alabama Republicans have been bad for health, bad for workers, bad for education and bad for crime,” Figures said. “They know they can’t win on these issues, so they run racist ads with pictures of a ‘scary black man,’ post altered images of me and tell lies about my views.”

He added, “They don’t talk about local issues because they’ve only made them worse in Alabama over the last 20 years,” Figures said.

Crime and race

The mailers were first reprimanded Sunday at a Figures campaign event in Montgomery after Democratic Texas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett called them ‘nonsense’ and represented a party without a substantive policy platform. Crockett said Republican congressional candidate Caroleene Dobson was nothing more than a “rubber stamp” for presidential candidate Donald Trump.

The Dobson campaign referred comments about the mailers to the Alabama GOP.

In a statement to AL.com On Tuesday, Alabama GOP Chairman John Wahl criticized Figures for his stance on clemency programs and for supporting the Democratic Party’s “radical views on transgender policies and the sexualization of our children.”

On leniency, Wahl said it is “incredibly offensive” for Figures to label the mailer message as a “racial issue.” The clemency mailers included an image of Brosarick Trammell, who is Black, and who was released from prison in 2017 and arrested in 2023 for fentanyl trafficking and other criminal offenses, the mailer reads.

Another mailer includes a photo of Trammell and Joseph Burgos, who is white and was released from prison in 2015 and convicted this year of opioid trafficking.

“Crime affects people of all backgrounds, and every victim deserves justice, regardless of race,” Wahl said. “Many of these potentially dangerous criminals were released into minority communities that are already struggling to get the help they need to control rising crime. Releasing dangerous criminals early is not a racial issue; it is a matter of common sense, and people of all backgrounds deserve safe communities where they can raise their families in peace.”

Wahl said Figures “is not a leader who will stand up for the black community” on safety issues, and said the Alabama Republican Party “views every individual as a child of God Almighty, without regard to the color of their skin.”

Clemency attitude

Figures said in response that the Republican Party in Alabama should send out a mailer with Trump’s face on it.

“Wait, the party that runs a criminal as its presidential candidate is concerned about criminals in society?” Figures said. “Go and have a look.”

Figures, a White House liaison to the U.S. Department of Justice for President Barack Obama, said the clemency initiative targeted individuals convicted of non-violent drug offenses under old criminal laws that had since been amended by the Republican-led Congress.

“Previous laws have treated crack cocaine much more stringently than powder cocaine,” Figures said. “This resulted in hundreds of thousands of people, mostly black men, being sent to prison for insanely long sentences for low-level non-violent drug offenses, even if they had no long criminal history, or in many cases, no criminal history.”

Figures show that Trump has maintained leniency toward past drug offenders during his presidency.

“I challenge them to say that Donald Trump just released criminals back into society,” Figures said, accusing Republicans and Dobson of being content to “just lock up as many black men in Alabama as possible for as long as possible.” .

Transgender rights

Wahl also blasted Figures for supporting what he said were “outrageous policies” in support of transgender issues, including gender-affirming care. The This issue animated the latest debate between Figures and Dobson, with the Republican candidate linking him to support for “gender reassignment.”

Dobson alleged during the Oct. 24 debate that Figures owns policies at the Department of Justice, where Figures most recently served as deputy chief of staff and adviser to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, including the challenge to Alabama law banning gender-affirming care for minors.

“The Democratic Party is clearly pushing for policies that allow biological males in girls’ restrooms and locker rooms, allow transgender athletes in women’s sports, and even advocate for taxpayer-funded gender changes for inmates in prison,” Wahl said. “These excessive policies highlight how disconnected the Democratic Party has become from Alabama values ​​and Alabama voters.”

The Alabama Transgender Rights Action Coalition (ALTRAC) said in a statement that they “don’t see much point in obtaining an explanation on something so deeply unserious,” other than to agree with Crockett’s statement that if the Republican Party “would have substantive policies, Republicans don’t need to attack a minority group in this race.”

“We greatly appreciate Figures sticking to the issues that matter to the lives of everyday Alabamians and not getting caught up in conservatives’ attempts to drag transgender Alabamians into their manufactured culture war,” the statement read.

Chance Shaw, executive director of Rainbow Pride of Mobile, called the mailer — like Burkett — “disgusting.”

“The Republican Party of Alabama refuses to speak out on current issues that Alabamians care about and instead stands on the stand with fear-mongering rhetoric like this,” Shaw said.