Super Tuesday: Democrats in Alabama’s reshaped 2nd Congressional District race head to runoff

By Rachel Schilke

Two Democrats are heading to a runoff election for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District following the crowded primary race on Super Tuesday in which no Democratic candidate captured more than 50% of the vote.

Former Justice Department official Shomari Figures and Democratic state Rep. Anthony Daniels will face each other in a runoff contest on April 16. The Associated Press called the race with Figures leading with 43.5% of the vote, followed by Daniels with 22.4%. The only other candidate to receive double digits was Napoleon Bracy, with 15.7%.

The winner will face the Republican candidate in a district that was long considered a GOP stronghold but was recently reshaped to become 49% black due to new congressional maps.

In this image provided by the Figures for Congress campaign, Shomari Figures, former deputy chief of staff to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, poses for a photo. (Terri Baskin/Figures for Congress via AP)

On the Republican side, Dick Brewbaker will face Caroleene Dobson in a runoff election on April 16, as well. The Associated Press called the race with Brewbaker leading with 39.6% of the vote, followed by Dobson with 26.5%. Brewbaker, Dobson, and Greg Albritton were the only three out of eight nominees who reached double digits in the primary, per the Associated Press.

Redistricting has pushed the 2nd District further into Democratic hands, uprooting Alabama’s delegation from six safe GOP districts to five. In Tuesday’s primary election, 11 Democrats and eight Republicans ran to represent the newly drawn minority-black 2nd District after the court selected Remedial Plan 3 as a solution to the state’s previous maps discriminating against black voters under the Voting Rights Act.

The general election in the 2nd District will be its most competitive contest in years. Given both Daniels and Figures are black, Alabama could end up electing two black representatives to the House for the first time in its history. The state’s only black representative is Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), who has held her seat since 2011.