Former runoff opponent endorses Shomari Figures in Alabama’s 2nd congressional district

Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, who lost to Shomari Figures of Mobile in a runoff for the Democratic nomination in Alabama’s redrawn 2nd Congressional District, today endorsed Figures for the seat.

Daniels said Figures has the best qualifications to represent the 2nd District, which covers all or part of 13 counties and includes Montgomery and most of Mobile.

Figures faces Republican nominee Caroleene Dobson in the Nov. 5 general election.

“He understands your plight. He understand the issues and the challenges that you face each and every day,” Daniels said. “So that’s why it’s important. We cannot sit this one out. When you go vote, vote the straight ticket Democrat. And those of you that have another candidate in another race, just make sure you mark Shomari Figures, because he’s the only candidate that’s going to deliver services back to the community.”

Figures is a lawyer who grew up in Mobile. He served as deputy chief of staff and counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland in the Justice Department. He is the son of longtime state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures of Mobile and Michael Figures, who served 18 years as a state senator until his death in 1996.

Dobson is a lawyer who lives in Montgomery and grew up in Monroe County in the south part of the district.

Both candidates are making their first runs for public office.

Read more: Alabama 2nd District candidates Dobson, Figures to debate live on AL.com in October

A federal court approved the redrawn 2nd District last year after ruling that Alabama’s previous congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act by packing Black voters into a single majority Black district.

The Black voting age population in the district is 49%. Analyses in the federal court case showed Black-preferred candidates, Democrats, received more votes than their opponents in 16 of 17 recent elections by an average margin of 10 percentage points.

Eleven Democrats ran for the seat. Figures led the field in the March primary, while Daniels finished second. Figures then defeated Daniels in the runoff in April, getting 61% of the vote.

Read more: Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey appears in new campaign ad for congressional candidate Caroleene Dobson

Figures thanked Daniels for his support during a press conference at the Democratic party headquarters in Montgomery. Daniels, who was elected to the Alabama House in 2014, has been minority leader since 2017.

“And I want to be clear at the outset that Mr. Daniels and I, as did every other candidate in this race, there’s never been any issues of support,” Figures said. “We all, at the outset, understood the collective obligation and the collective effort and the collective need to get this seat into Democratic hands when we had the opportunity in November.”

Figures said the district needs a representative in Washington who will tackle problems such as rural hospitals closing and the state’s low ranking in important measures like life expectancy.

“And a lot of that has to do with just basic access to healthcare, basic access to ambulance services, maternity wards, preventative screening, healthcare insurance,” Figures said.

“But more importantly, a lot of that has to do with the lack of access to leadership that actually cares about prioritizing those issues and prioritizing plans and strategies to actually resolve them in too many communities across this district.”