In a historic turn of events, Shomari Figures, a former official of the US Justice Department, is projected to win the Democratic primary runoff for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, according to CNN. This seat, redrawn under a new map, could potentially lead to two Black House members from Alabama serving concurrently for the first time in history.
Figures is expected to defeat state House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels in the runoff, which was necessitated after neither candidate secured more than 50% of the vote in the initial round last month, which saw 11 candidates vying for the position.
The Republican primary was also settled in a runoff on Tuesday, with real estate lawyer Caroleene Dobson securing the nomination over former state Sen. Dick Brewbaker. Figures is favored to win against Dobson in the November elections for a seat that spans the southern part of the state and would have supported President Joe Biden by a 12-point margin in 2020.
A victory for Figures could see him making history alongside Rep. Terri Sewell, a fellow Black Democrat who is likely to win an eighth term in the neighboring deep-blue seat. Alabama has never had two Black members in its congressional delegation serving simultaneously.
The new seat was created after a three-judge panel approved a new map last fall that significantly increased the district’s Black population, providing Democrats with a potential pickup opportunity with control of the US House at stake in this year’s elections.
The battle over the new Alabama map escalated to the US Supreme Court, which, in a surprising ruling, upheld the panel’s opinion that ordered the state to include a second Black-majority district or “something quite close to it.”
Former US Attorney General Eric Holder, who chairs a national Democratic redistricting group, hailed Tuesday’s election as “another step toward progress and increased voter turnout as a result of the state’s new, fair map.”
Holder further stated, “Alabama voters now stand on the cusp of making history in November, when Black Alabamians could — for the first time — elect two members of Congress who truly reflect their political desires.”
Prior to the court action, Alabama, which is 27% Black, had one Black-majority district out of seven seats. Before joining the race, Figures served as deputy chief of staff to US Attorney General Merrick Garland and worked in the Obama administration and as a counsel in Congress.
Figures hails from a prominent family in Alabama politics. His late father, Michael Figures, was a state senator and lawyer, who played a key role in a successful lawsuit against the United Klans of America and others over the lynching of a Black teenager in 1981, effectively bankrupting the organization. Shomari Figures’ mother, Vivian Davis Figures, succeeded her husband in the state Senate, where she continues to serve.
The 2nd District race attracted more than $8 million in total ad spending through Monday, including all advertisers during both the initial primary contest and the runoff on both sides. A significant factor on the Democratic side has been the presence of a pro-Figures super PAC, Protect Progress, which is funded by cryptocurrency interests and has spent $2.7 million on advertising in the race – the most of any advertiser. Dobson’s campaign spent about $1.7 million on ads in total through Monday, portraying herself as a “Trump conservative” and targeting Brewbaker, her primary opponent, as “just another tax-raising, Trump-hating politician.”
Contributions to this report were made by CNN’s Fredreka Schouten.