Alabama Congressional District Redrawn to Better Represent Black Voters Sparks Competitive Race

TUSKEGEE, Alabama — On either side of the courthouse square in Tuskegee, Alabama — a place steeped in African-American history, including the city’s namesake university and World War II airmen — two opposing congressional candidates recently greeted families gathered at a county festival.

Democrat Shomari Figures, who worked in the Obama White House and was a top aide to Attorney General Merrick Garland, is trying to turn around the seat, which was redrawn after a lengthy redistricting battle. Republican Caroleene Dobson, a real estate lawyer and political newcomer, is trying to keep the seat in GOP hands.

Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District was redrawn after the U.S. Supreme Court acknowledged that Alabama likely illegally diluted the influence of black voters when drawing congressional districts. A three-judge panel reshaped the district, which now includes cities like Tuskegee, to give black voters the ability to elect the candidate of their choice.

The vacant seat has set off a fierce race for the district — which now leans Democratic but Republicans maintain is winnable — that could help decide control of the U.S. House of Representatives. Black residents now make up nearly 49% of the district’s voting-age population, up from about 30% when the district was still Republican. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the district as “likely Democratic.”

Still, both Dobson and Figures believe the race is competitive.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named Figures to its “Red to Blue” platform, a list of priority candidates it believes can flip Republican control of districts. The National Republican Congressional Committee also named Dobson to its list of priority candidates called “Young Guns.”

Both candidates are lawyers under 40, parents of young children. They both left Alabama to seek opportunities but recently returned home.

But they differ on policy.

Figures, 39, is a Mobile native and the son of two state legislators. His late father was a legislative leader and attorney who prosecuted the Ku Klux Klan for the 1981 murder of a black teenager. After graduating from the University of Alabama and its law school, Figures worked for the Obama administration as national director of presidential personnel and then as a liaison to the Justice Department. He also served as deputy chief of staff and counselor to Garland.

During campaign stops, Figures discussed the impact of Alabama’s refusal to expand Medicaid, the need to end hospital closures in the state, support for public education and the need to bring additional resources to a district with deep infrastructure needs.

“We have lost three hospitals in this district since I ran in this race. We have several more that are losing capacity, including one here in Montgomery,” Figures said in a speech.

Dobson, 37, grew up in rural Monroe County and is a graduate of Harvard University and Baylor Law School. A real estate attorney, she lived and practiced in Texas before returning to Alabama.

Dobson has focused on concerns about border security, inflation and crime — issues she says worry families across the political spectrum. During the Republican primary runoff, she ran ads describing herself as someone “who supports Donald Trump.”

“The vast majority of Alabamans in this district are very concerned about the direction our country is going,” Dobson said after a campaign visit from Montgomery. “They need to look back over the last three and a half years and ask themselves who has been in charge when it comes to our open border, our economy, inflation, food prices.”

Last week, Dobson traveled to the U.S.-Mexico border to highlight border security. “It impacts crime and drugs, but open border policies only exacerbate the humanitarian crisis,” he said.

The officials called the trip a “photo op.” He said that while immigration is an important issue that requires bipartisan cooperation, it is not the cause of the pressing problems in the district.

“Illegal immigration is not the reason why 12 of the 13 counties in this district lost population last year. Illegal immigration is not the reason why our children here in the state of Alabama have the sixth lowest reading scores of any state,” Figures said.

The new 2nd Congressional District spans southern Alabama from the Mississippi border to the Georgia border. It includes parts of Mobile and the state capital Montgomery, as well as many rural counties, including parts of the state’s Black Belt, a region named for its dark, fertile soil that once gave rise to slave-operated cotton plantations. It also includes many white suburbs and rural areas that have been Republican strongholds.

The change in Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket should benefit Figures, said Democratic pollster Zac McCrary. “Black voters are more enthusiastic now. Young voters are more enthusiastic now,” McCrary said.

On the Republican side, enthusiasm over Trump’s return to the White House is expected to boost turnout among Republican voters.

Ira Stallworth, a 59-year-old retired educator who met with both candidates in Tuskegee, said the race has already produced something new: attention. She said the area had often been overlooked by candidates in the past when it was part of a GOP stronghold.

“We’re fortunate to have a district that gives us a little more voice,” Stallworth said.