By Kirsten J. Barnes
Phenix City and Russell County voters will go to the polls Tuesday, April 16, for a run-off election between two Democrats and Two Republicans.
Shomari Figures, former Deputy Chief of Staff and Counselor to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland will face Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Danials, in a contest for a recently redrawn Alabama Congressional District 2, which goes from Phenix City to Montgomery to Mobile.
During the general election, Figures had almost a two-to-one lead over Daniels.
However, he did not receive 51 percent of the vote to prevent a runoff.
According to the election results, Figures, the son of the late Civil Rights attorney and Alabama Senate Pro Tem Micheal Figures and current state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures (Mobile), won Russell, Montgomery, Mobile, Monroe, Barbour, Conecuh, Butler, and
Washington counties with nearly 25,000 votes or 43.5 percent, while Daniels of Huntsville won Macon, Bullock, Pike and Crenshaw counties with nearly 13,000 votes or 22.4 percent of the vote.
The winner will face the winner of the Republican Runoff election between former Montgomery State Senator and businessman Dick Brewbaker, and Harvard College graduate and Montgomery real estate attorney Carolene Dobson.
In February, Brewbaker had approximately 23,000 votes or 39.6 percent, while Dobson had roughly 15,000 votes or 16.5 percent of the vote.
Both candidates have experience in politics, with Figures having worked in Washington, D.C., and Daniels having worked in Alabama.
“I grew up black in Alabama,” said Figures, a husband and father of three young children. “When you grow up black in Alabama, you know at a very early age the role that the federal government has had to play in making this state do right by black people. That always resonated with me, and that is what motivated me to pursue acareer in the federal government, and for me, that took me through the highest levels of the federal government. I worked with President Barack Obama in the White House. I worked in the attorney general’s office at the Department of Justice on two different occasions. And more relevantly to this race, I worked in Congress for several years as a lawyer advising on everything from voting rights to child welfare, immigration, law enforcement matters and more.”
Daniels has served in the Alabama House since 2015, representing Huntsville, Ala.
“My experience as the House Minority Leader and my effective experience in the legislature would allow me to be the better choice for us in the U.S. Congress,” said Daniels, who is a husband and father of two school-aged children. “I have delivered
things such as eliminating the overtime pay on income tax for hourly workers. I have pushed for more classrooms for pre-K in many of our rural communities and urban areas that have long waiting lists. I have the receipts of deliverables in the Alabama
Legislature and going to Congress is just like being in another level of the Legislature. So, my experiences have prepared me. My life experiences have prepared me. Working in the world of work as a classroom teacher in three different settings: a public magnet school, a Title I school, and on an Indian Reservation; and being a small business owner, myself have prepared me.”
Both men say their relationships will help them serve Alabama well.
“It’s a huge district, but this is where I was born, where I was raised, and where I was educated, and this district is what prepared me to go off and have the career that I have had in the federal government,” Figures said. “I think everyone at some point asks
themselves: ‘How can I take what God has given me and put it to use for the people and places that mean and matter the most to me?’ And for me, that’s always been home. That’s always been Alabama. In this race, we now have an opportunity to get the type of leadership in Washington in many of these places that have been neglected for far too long and I actually can bring a focus and a care and a concern for the places across this district to Washington D.C.”
Daniels said he has crisscrossed this district not only since running for Congress but even before entering this race.
“I’ve been to every county at least six times – minimum,” Daniels said. “I’ve had relationships with the county commissioners, and I have personal relationships with a lot of the city council members. I understand the challenges of this district firsthand by
years and years of spending time with office holders within this particular district as well as people who come to the State House on advocacy days.”
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Time. For a list of polling locations, visit
https://www.russellcountyprobate.us/elections/voter-locations.
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