Figures, Dobson make closing pitches to voters in Alabama congressional race

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The two candidates for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District, which was redrawn by a federal court after a lengthy redistricting battle, made their final campaign pushes this week, seeking to drive turnout in the race that could play a role in the battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

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

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

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

''When you grow up in Mobile and in Alabama you learn very very early in life the role that the federal government has had to play in making the state do right by its people,'' Figures said during a stop in Mobile.

Figures has emphasized the need to work on longstanding problems with health care, infrastructure and education, often noting that Alabamians have among the lowest life expectancies in the nation.

''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 Figures. ''America needs you to lead the charge for change once again," Obama said in the message that also invoked the state's civil rights history.

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries traveled to Alabama to support Figures as Democrats eye an opportunity to flip the Deep South seat.

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

The race is about turnout, she told supporters. ''I think now 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 afterward.

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

''What's consistent in every conversation that I have throughout 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 put in place policies that have caused these problems,'' Dobson said.

The Alabama Republican Party sent out a series of controversial mailers attempting to attack Figures. One about a Department of Justice clemency initiative had a large mug shot of a Black man arrested on a 2023 drug trafficking charge with text saying that Figures ''supports releasing dangerous criminals.''

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

''If the Republican party wanted to send out a mailer of a criminal, they should've put out a mailer with Donald Trump on it,'' Figures added.

Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl 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 Friday campaign stop, Charlie Trotman, a Montgomery real estate developer, told Dobson that she had his vote.

''She is to me somebody I would be very proud to represent us. I think she is smart,'' Trotman said.

In Mobile, Shalela Dowdy, one of the Black voters who challenged the state's prior congressional map, called the election the ''fight of our lives'' but said that she is cautiously optimistic.

Dowdy, a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, said she joined the litigation because the needs of Black communities were being ignored. She said the district is now drawn so the winner will have to be responsive to all communities, both Black and white.

''It will provide them a seat at the table, to have a voice and not be forgotten about,'' Dowdy said.

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Associated Press writer Safiyah Riddle contributed to this report.