(The Center Square) — The field for a newly drawn congressional district is set after Tuesday’s runoffs, with Democrats having a slight advantage.
Republican Caroleene Dobson will take on former federal official Shomari Figures, a Democrat, in the 2nd Congressional District race in November.
According to the Cook Political Report, the race leans Likely Democratic at plus four. Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball also has the race in the likely Democratic category, while Inside Elections concurs with that classification.
Dobson defeated state Sen. Dick Brewbacker with 58.4% of the vote, while the Montgomery auto dealer finished with 41.6%, just a few percentage points below his tally in the March 5 primary. Dobson finished more than 31 percentage points better and will need a similar performance in November.
In a post on her campaign Facebook post, Dobson said “I am humbled by your outpouring support and honored to be your #AL02 Republican Nominee.
This is just the starting line. Today, the work continues in our fight for Alabama families.”
Brewbaker won his home county of Montgomery and Barbour County, but Dobson won by overwhelming margins in the rest of the district.
Figures easily held off state House Minority Leader Rep. Anthony Daniels in the runoff, finishing with 61% of the vote.
Figures said in a post on his campaign Facebook page that he was “deeply thankful to every supporter for your unwavering support in round two of our race to represent District 2 in Congress. From my federal service to our grassroots campaign, this journey has always been about serving the people of Alabama. But, our work isn’t finished. Now, we focus on winning in November and making history.”
Figures won seven counties in the district, including the two most populated ones, Mobile and Montgomery.
In the March 5 battle with 11 candidates, Figures finished with 43.5% of the vote, while Daniels finished with 22.4%.
While only 159 votes separated the two primaries March 5, the runoffs were a different story. In the GOP runoff, 25,142 cast ballots, while 35,916 did so in the Democratic race, a difference of 10,774.
The 2nd District was redrawn after several attempts by lawmakers to craft new maps after a federal court decision issued an order requiring the creation of a new majority Black congressional district.
In the 1st District primary, U.S. Rep. Barry Moore knocked off U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, a Mobile Republican, after Moore’s Wiregrass counties were drawn into the 1st District.