Who are Shomari Figures and Caroleene Dobson? 5 things to know about Alabama’s competitive District 2 race

The showdown is set between Democrat Shomari Figures and Republican Caroleene Dobson in November for the 2nd congressional district seat.

It is a rare competitive general election contest in Alabama for a seat in Congress that became possible after the U.S. Supreme Court unexpectedly ruled last June in Allen v. Milligan that Alabama’s Republican-drawn congressional map violated the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The decision ultimately led to a three-judge panel to select Alabama’s new congressional map in October that upended the state’s political landscape this year.

Instead of six safe Republican districts and one safe Democratic district, Alabama’s map now has two districts where Democrats have a shot to win that includes the 2nd congressional district.

Here are five things to know about the two remaining candidates:

A battle between Millennials. This is the first known time that a general election contest for a congressional seat in Alabama was competed against two candidates under the age of 40. Figures, 38, is slightly older than Dobson, 37. No one from the Millennial generation (those born between 1981 and 1996) has been elected from Alabama to serve in the U.S. House. The winner will be the second from that generation to serve the state in Congress. Katie Britt, 43, is third youngest member of the Senate.

A battle of attorneys. Dobson is a real estate attorney at the Maynard Nexsen law firm in Birmingham. Figures, before entering the congressional race, was deputy chief of staff and counselor to Attorney general Merrick Garland in the Department of Justice. Dobson joined Marynard Nexsen in 2019. Before then, she worked and lived in Texas, practicing law in San Antonio, Texas. She is a Harvard graduate and has her law degree from Baylor University Law School. Figures, who is a graduate at the University of Alabama School of Law, has spent most of his career in Washington, D.C. He worked in the Obama Administration and served as White House Liaison at the Department of Justice, and then as a Counsel in Congress.

Biden and Trump. Dobson has been a strong proponent of former President Donald Trump while campaigning during the primary. Figures’ career is linked directly to the Obama White House and President Joe Biden’s Administration. Dobson, a member of the Birmingham chapter of the Federalist Society – a conservative legal organization – was critical of her opponent, former Sen. Dick Brewbaker, during the campaign for not adhering to Trump’s policies and for critical statements against the ex-president. Figures worked on the Biden-Harris transition team in 2020, before returning to the Department of Justice to work under Garland.

Diverse backgrounds. Dobson, a Montgomery resident, is a fifth-generation farm who grew up on a cattle farm in rural Monroe County. Her family has been involved in the timber business, an economic engine in the state, and she was endorsed during the primary by the Alabama Forestry Association. Her campaign heavily focused on images of Dobson riding horseback in rural settings. Figures, a Mobile resident, is the son of two Democratic political names in the state – state Sen. Vivian Figures and the late Michael Figures, who died in 1996. Michael Figures served in the state Senate from 1979 until his death, when his wife took over the seat and has held onto it ever since.

Young families. Dobson and Figures are both parents to young children. Figures is the husband of former school teacher and community advocate Dr. Kalisha Dessources Figures, and father of three – Micah, Novah, and Zorah. Dobson and her husband, Bobby, have two daughters, Phillippa and Lydia.