Alabama's Super Tuesday: Key Battles and Voter Results

By Kirsten J. Barnes

The newly minted U.S. Congressional District 2 in Alabama, which includes all of Phenix City and   Russell County; along with Macon, Barbour, Bullock, Pike, Montgomery, Butler, Monroe, Conecuh, Mobile, and Washington counties, is headed into a run-off on the Democratic and Republican side of the race.

Attorney Shomari Figures will face Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels in a run-off on the Democratic ticket on April 16, 2024.

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. 

On the Republican side, former State Sen. Dick Brewbaker of Montgomery had approximately 23,000 votes or 39.6 percent. He will face attorney and cattle farmer Caroleene Dobson, who had roughly 15,000 votes or 16.5 percent of the vote.

One of the problems with the new congressional district is that it attracted 11 candidates on the Democratic ticket, including five current members of the Alabama Legislature: Rep. Anthony Daniels (Huntsville), Rep. Napoleon Bracy (Saraland), Sen. Merika Coleman (Bessemer), Rep. Jeremy Gray (Opelika), and Rep. Juandalynn Givan (Birmingham). 

Gray, who represents parts of Russell County and Phenix City in his Alabama House District 83, said he enjoyed the experience of running for Congress.

“I want to thank all the people of Russell County,” said Gray, who was first elected to the Alabama House in 2018. “I’ve been representing them for the last 6 years. I am thankful for the people who supported me and who were boots on the ground, as well as those who prayed for me and offered any support. Whoever wins the run-off I know they will do a good job. It looks like Shomari has a stronghold.”

Campaign officials with the Figures for Congress campaign said they were excited about the campaign’s momentum so far, and look forward to the next phase of the race as they head into April. 

In October, a federal three-judge panel decided a closely watched redistricting case that had gone on for years. The panel ruled that Alabama had enough minorities to have two minority-leaning Congressional Districts. After heavy debate and several maps, the courts created this new district. U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, who is black, represents Alabama in the state’s 7th Congressional District.

“I’m just glad to be heard of history. This new black seat is going to be important for the people of Alabama,” Gray said. “I met a lot of good people along the way from Mobile to Russell County. We had a lot of great candidates in the race.”

Now that only one sitting legislator is still running, Gray said he feels that the focus can go back to handling the people’s business in Alabama, which has a legislature that is in session until at least May.

“At the end of the day, we are all in agreement that there needs to be a Democrat in that seat to represent us in D.C. But I am proud to say, that even with so many people running, we were a united front when we were on the House Floor fighting against the ballot harvesting bill or for the gaming bill. No one used their candidacy to separate themselves from the group. We all stuck together.”

In the presidential race, former President Donald Trump had 497,739 votes or 83.2 percent of the vote, while President Joe Biden had 1667,165 or 89.5 percent of the vote. They both head into November without a runoff. 

Biden picked up 49 Democratic Delegates, while Trump won 50 Delegates from Alabama. 

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