Current:Home > StocksFigures and Dobson are in a heated battle for a redrawn Alabama House district-InfoLens
Figures and Dobson are in a heated battle for a redrawn Alabama House district
View Date:2024-12-23 16:12:59
Follow live: Updates from AP’s coverage of the presidential election.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Alabama voters will decide who will represent a congressional district that was redrawn after a lengthy legal battle that drew national attention and could provide a rare opportunity for Democrats to flip a seat in the Deep South.
Democrat Shomari Figures, a former top aide to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, faces Republican Caroleene Dobson, an attorney and political newcomer, in the race for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District.
The district, which had been reliably Republican, became competitive after it was reshaped last year by federal judges, A federal court ruled that Alabama had illegally diluted the influence of Black voters and redrew the district to increase the percentage of Black voters in the district. A win by Figures would give Alabama a second Black representative in its congressional delegation for the first time in history.
The non-partisan Cook Political Report had rated the reshaped district as “likely Democrat” but both campaigns stressed that it is a competitive race.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee named Figures to its “Red to Blue” program, a slate of priority candidates they believed could flip districts from Republican control. The National Republican Congressional Committee similarly named Dobson to its list of priority candidates called the “Young Guns.”
Figures is an attorney who served as deputy chief of staff and counselor to Garland. He also was an aide to former President Barack Obama, serving as domestic director of the Presidential Personnel Office. On the campaign trail, Figures, 39, discussed the district’s profound needs in infrastructure, education, and healthcare. The Mobile native also has deep ties to state politics. His mother is a state senator, and his late father was a legislative leader and attorney who sued the Ku Klux Klan over the 1981 murder of a Black teenager.
Dobson, a real estate attorney, had criticized Figures as a “Washington D.C. insider” because of his lengthy Washington resume and connections to the Obama and Biden administrations. Dobson, 37, emphasized concerns about border security, inflation, and crime — issues that she said resonate with voters across the political spectrum.
The heated election comes after a bitter legal fight over the shape of the district.
Federal judges approved new district lines after ruling that Alabama’s previous map — which had only one majority-Black district out of seven — was likely racially gerrymandered to limit the influence of Black voters in a state that is 27% Black. The three-judge panel said Alabama should have a second district where Black voters make up a substantial portion of the voting age population and have a reasonable opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.
The new district, where Black residents make up nearly 49% of the voting age population, spans the width of the state and includes the capital city of Montgomery, parts of the port city of Mobile as well as rural counties.
veryGood! (66632)
Related
- Man killed by police in Minnesota was being sought in death of his pregnant wife
- Vermont man charged with possessing a bomb pleads not guilty
- A Republican leader in the Colorado House says he’ll step down after a DUI arrest came to light
- Farmers block roads across France to protest low wages and countless regulations
- Biden EPA to charge first-ever ‘methane fee’ for drilling waste by oil and gas companies
- Italy’s lower chamber of parliament OKs deal with Albania to house migrants during asylum processing
- Massachusetts is planning to shutter MCI-Concord, the state’s oldest prison for men
- Kelly Clarkson Shares Why She Can’t Be Friends With Her Exes
- Special counsel Smith asks court to pause appeal seeking to revive Trump’s classified documents case
- Charles Fried, former US solicitor general and Harvard law professor, has died
Ranking
- American Idol’s Triston Harper, 16, Expecting a Baby With Wife Paris Reed
- Farmers block roads across France to protest low wages and countless regulations
- Latest federal court order favors right to carry guns in some New Mexico public parks
- Watch the 'Avatar: The Last Airbender' official trailer including Aang in action
- Diddy's ex-bodyguard sues rape accuser for defamation over claims of 2001 assault
- Hungary is the last holdout for Sweden’s NATO membership. So when will Orbán follow Turkey’s lead?
- The Best Colognes for Men You Won’t Regret Shopping, Just in Time for Valentine’s Day
- Who's on the 2025 Baseball Hall of Fame ballot? Ichiro Suzuki and CC Sabathia lead the way
Recommendation
-
Dallas Long, who won 2 Olympic medals while dominating the shot put in the 1960s, has died at 84
-
New Hampshire primary results for 2024 Republican election
-
Dry January isn't just for problem drinkers. It's making me wonder why I drink at all.
-
Cyprus rescues 60 Syrian migrants lost at sea for 6 days. Several have been hospitalized
-
Judith Jamison, acclaimed Alvin Ailey American dancer and director, dead at 81
-
Mississippi governor pushes state incentives to finalize deal for 2 data processing centers
-
Combative billionaire Bill Ackman uses bare-knuckle boardroom tactics in a wider war
-
UK’s flagship nuclear plant could cost up to $59 billion, developer says