Numbers, Dobson delivers closing arguments to voters in Alabama’s congressional race

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The two candidates for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, which was re-elected by a federal court after a protracted redistricting battle, made their final campaign push this week, trying to boost turnout in the race that could play a role in the fight for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The once safe Republican seat was reshaped after a federal court ruled that Alabama had illegally diluted the power of black voters. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report ranks the new district, where black voters make up nearly 49% of the voting population, as “likely Democrat.” But both campaigns have said the seat is competitive.

In their closing messages, both candidates emphasized a drive for turnout.

Standing near a statue of Rosa Parks in downtown Montgomery, Shomari Figures, the Democratic candidate, on Thursday called the race an opportunity to build on the progress of the civil rights movement. Figures, the son of a civil rights attorney and Alabama lawmaker, worked as a top aide to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and as an aide in the Obama White House.

“Growing up in Mobile and Alabama, you learn very early in life the role the federal government has had to play in getting the state to do what is right for its people,” Figures said during a visit to Mobile.

Numbers have highlighted the need to work on long-standing issues with health care, infrastructure and education, often noting that Alabamians have among the lowest life expectancies in the country.

“We’re going to win this thing. But the goal is not to win. The goal is to do the work,” he said.

Former President Barack Obama recorded a message encouraging voters to support the numbers. “America needs you to once again lead the fight for change,” Obama said in the message, which also invoked the state’s civil rights history.

US Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries traveled to Alabama to support the Figures, as Democrats see an opportunity to flip the seat in the Deep South.

Republican Caroleene Dobson has highlighted concerns about inflation and immigration, issues she said are troubling families across the political spectrum. On Friday, she greeted the breakfast crowd at a popular deli in Montgomery.

The race is about turnout, she told supporters. “I think this is an opportunity for the people of this district to really send a message to Washington. We don’t want more of the status quo.” Dobson said next.

Dobson, a real estate attorney, has repeatedly called Figures a “Washington insider.”

“What is consistent in every conversation I have across the district is that we cannot sustain another four years of high prices and rising crime. And it’s not just that my opponent doesn’t have solutions to these problems, he helped create policies that created these problems,” Dobson said.

The Republican Party of Alabama sent out a series of controversial mailers in an attempt to attack Figures. One about a Justice Department clemency initiative featured a large photo of a Black man arrested on a 2023 drug trafficking charge, with the caption that Figures “supports the release of dangerous criminals.”

Figures in a statement called the ads an attempt at “race-baiting.”

“If the Republican Party wanted to send a mailer from a criminal, they should have sent a mailer with Donald Trump on it,” Figures said.

John Wahl, chairman of the Republican Party of Alabama, defended the mailers, saying that “crime affects people of all backgrounds, and every victim deserves justice regardless of race.”

The mailers were sent by the state party and not the Dobson campaign.

During the campaign stop on Friday, Charlie Trotman, a real estate developer from Montgomery, told Dobson that she had his vote.

“For me, she is someone I would be very proud to represent us. I think she’s smart,” Trotman said.

In Mobile, Shalela Dowdy, one of the Black voters who questioned the state’s previous congressional map, called the election the “fight of our lives” but said she is cautiously optimistic.

Dowdy, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, said she joined the lawsuit because the needs of black communities were being ignored. She said the district has now been drawn, so the winner will have to respond to all communities, both black and white.

“It will give them a seat at the table, a voice and not be forgotten,” Dowdy said.