Caroleene Dobson wins the Republican nomination for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Caroleene Dobson has won the Republican nomination in a runoff for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District.

The attorney defeated former state legislator Dick Brewbaker and will face the Democratic nominee Shomari Figures, a former top aide to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, in November. Figures defeated state House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels for the nomination.

Democrats are aiming to flip the seat after the district was redrawn by a federal court to boost the voting power of Black residents. Republicans are hoping to keep the seat under GOP control.

Federal judges approved new district lines in October after ruling that Alabama’s previous map — which had only one majority-Black district out of seven — was racially gerrymandered to limit the influence of the state’s Black voters. The three-judge panel said Alabama, which is about 27% Black, 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 spans the width of the state and includes Montgomery, parts of Mobile and rural counties in the state’s Black Belt.

Figures, an attorney, also served as an aide to former President Barrack Obama, serving as domestic director of the Presidential Personnel Office. He is the son of two prominent Alabama legislators, longtime state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures and the late Senate President Pro Tem Michael Figures. He moved home to Mobile from Washington D.C. to run for the congressional seat.

Dobson, who was raised in Monroe County, lived and practiced law in Texas before returning to Alabama and joining the Maynard Nexsen law firm in 2019. She is a member of the Alabama Forestry Commission.