Figures to Face Trump-Backed Rhett Marques in Alabama
State Rep. Rhett Marques won Tuesday's six-way Republican special primary in Alabama's 2nd District, setting up a November race against Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures in a seat the GOP redrew.
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures will face state Rep. Rhett Marques, a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump, in November for an Alabama congressional seat that Republicans redrew as part of a broader effort to hold the House of Representatives.
Marques won the Republican nomination in Tuesday's special primary for the 2nd Congressional District, surviving a six-way field. Figures was unopposed. Marques, who owns a tire and automotive service business and has served in the Alabama Legislature since 2018, also has the endorsement of Sen. Katie Britt.
The district is one of several Democratic-leaning seats across the South reshaped to Republican advantage after a Supreme Court ruling this year that sharply weakened the Voting Rights Act. In April, the court struck down a majority-Black district in Louisiana as an unconstitutional gerrymander that leaned too heavily on race. Alabama lawmakers then passed legislation nullifying the results of primaries already underway and authorizing Tuesday's special contests, and the Supreme Court in June allowed the state to switch maps.
Figures won the seat in 2024 after years of litigation, when a federal court redrew the reliably Republican district after finding that the GOP-controlled Legislature intentionally diluted the voting power of Black residents, who make up 27% of Alabama's population. His election gave the state two Black representatives for the first time. The Republican redraw dropped the district's Black voting-age population from 48% to 40%.
The new district covers the state's southeastern corner, including Montgomery and Tuskegee, farmland known for peanuts and soybeans, and an Air Force base in Montgomery and an Army base in Dale County.
"My opponent would be just another rubber stamp on the same policies that are making life more expensive for the people right here in Alabama," Figures said in a statement Tuesday night, citing federal money he brought back for hospitals, law enforcement, housing and water projects.
Marques said his campaign would focus on safe streets, Christian values and "more money in your pockets." He added: "With your help, common sense will conquer craziness in November."
Rep. Terri Sewell, Alabama's other Black Democrat, was unopposed in her primary and is favored in the slightly redrawn 7th District against Republican Ammie Akin, an educator.
This article was produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI), in accordance with our editorial policy.
