Figures Accepts Three Debate Invitations; Marques Says No to 2nd District Debate

MOBILE, Ala. — The question of a 2nd District debate in Alabama’s most closely watched congressional race has an answer, at least for now: U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures says he has accepted three invitations to debate, and his Republican challenger, state Rep. Rhett Marques, says he will not take the stage.

Figures, the Democratic incumbent, said he has agreed to debates hosted by the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, the Christian Coalition of Alabama and a statewide news organization ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Marques responded that the candidates’ records already show voters the difference between them and that a debate would only give Figures a bigger platform.

The exchange is the latest round in a race that has become one of the most closely watched in the South, with both parties eyeing the seat as the battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives tightens.

Figures: ‘Anytime, any place’

Figures framed his acceptance as a challenge to Marques.

“Let me be crystal clear: I will debate Rhett Marques anytime, any place,” Figures said. “Voters in Alabama’s Second District deserve to hear directly from us on how we’ll tackle the affordability crisis hammering farmers, small business owners, and working families across our communities.”

He said both candidates owe voters a direct accounting before they cast their ballots.

“I committed to these debates because I have never run from tough questions and I believe we owe it to our communities to stand before them and say how we will represent them,” Figures said. “If you refuse to stand before voters before an election, then you certainly won’t do it once you’re in office.”

In the same announcement, Figures again went after Marques’ record in the Alabama Legislature. “People deserve to know why Rhett Marques raised the gas tax 67 percent and raised taxes for Alabama families 22 times,” he said.

Marques: ‘We don’t need a debate to show that’

Marques, who represents the Enterprise area in the Alabama House, said the race comes down to a simple contrast.

“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: the choice in this race is craziness versus common sense,” Marques said. “Shomari voted to allow boys to play girls’ sports, voted to spend Alabamians’ Medicaid dollars on illegal immigrants and voted to raise your taxes.”

He tied Figures to the national Democratic Party, which he accused of moving toward socialism. “He is part of a Democratic Party that has moved further and further toward socialism, with the mission of emptying the prisons, giving total control of your healthcare to government bureaucrats and allowing illegal immigrants to vote,” Marques said.

Marques said his own legislative record stands in contrast. “I’m on the opposite side of every one of those issues,” he said. “My record of cutting taxes, keeping boys out of girls’ sports and standing with our military and law enforcement speaks for itself. We don’t need a debate to show that.”

He said a debate would give Figures a larger stage in a race that could help decide which party controls the House. “I’m simply not going to give a platform to someone who wants to hand control of Congress to anti-American socialists like AOC,” Marques said, referring to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York Democrat.

The candidates’ claims about each other’s voting records are campaign characterizations, and each side has disputed the other’s framing.

How the debate dispute developed

The question of a debate has hung over the race for more than a week. Figures first publicly challenged Marques to debate after President Donald Trump’s Oct. 2 rally at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center in Mobile, where Marques spoke and argued that Figures represented “craziness over common sense.” In a statement the next day, Figures accused Marques of having “lied about me” on stage and said that if Marques believed he could back up his claims, “he should take the stage with me and debate.”

At the time, it was unclear whether Marques would respond. His statement this week makes his position plain.

The debate fight also echoes a familiar dynamic in congressional campaigns, where the candidate who believes he holds the advantage is often more reluctant to share a stage, while the candidate seeking to change the race’s direction presses for face-to-face meetings. Declining a debate carries its own risks, as opponents typically use the refusal as a campaign message, as Figures already has.

The gas tax fight behind the 67% figure

Figures’ line about a 67 percent gas tax increase has been a centerpiece of his campaign. It refers to the Rebuild Alabama Act, the 2019 state law that raised Alabama’s fuel tax to pay for road and bridge projects. Marques was serving in the Alabama House at the time and voted for the measure, as did a large majority of the Legislature.

Before the law, Alabama’s gasoline tax stood at 18 cents per gallon, a rate unchanged since 1992. The act phased in a 10-cent increase over three years and added a periodic adjustment tied to highway construction costs, which can raise the rate by up to a penny every two years. As this site has previously reported, those adjustments have brought the total to 30 cents per gallon, an increase of 12 cents, or about 67%, over the original rate. Marques’ campaign has argued that the percentage overstates the effect of the 2019 vote itself, which approved a 10-cent increase.

The source of Figures’ claim that Marques “raised taxes for Alabama families 22 times” was not detailed in his announcement.

Who the candidates are

Figures, a Mobile native, won the 2nd District seat in 2024 and is seeking a second term. Before running for Congress, he worked in the Obama White House and later served at the U.S. Department of Justice as a counselor to Attorney General Merrick Garland. He is the son of the late state Sen. Michael Figures and Vivian Davis Figures, a longtime state senator from Mobile.

Figures has made affordability, especially fuel prices and the cost of tariffs on farmers and manufacturers, a central theme of his campaign.

Marques is a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives from Enterprise, in Coffee County. He has campaigned on his record of tax cuts in the Legislature, his support for the military and law enforcement, and his opposition to transgender athletes competing in girls’ sports. He received prominent support at Trump’s Mobile rally, where the president told the crowd of Marques that “we gotta get him in.”

Why the 2nd District matters

The 2nd District takes in a large part of Mobile and stretches across a wide swath of south Alabama, including many rural communities. Its boundaries have been the subject of years of litigation over the Voting Rights Act, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Allen v. Milligan, which led to a court-drawn map ahead of the 2024 election.

With control of the U.S. House potentially hinging on a small number of competitive seats nationwide, both national parties have taken an interest in the outcome. Republican speakers at the Mobile rally, including Trump, urged supporters to turn out in November specifically to flip the seat.

The House has 435 voting members, and a party needs 218 seats for a majority. Republicans won a narrow majority in the 2024 election, which means a shift of only a handful of seats could change which party controls the chamber. As this site has reported, national forecasters have recently shifted toward favoring Democrats for House control overall, while continuing to rate Alabama’s 2nd District as “likely Republican.” Marques’ comment about not wanting to help “hand control of Congress” to Democrats reflects those national stakes.

The three groups whose invitations Figures accepted represent a cross-section of the district’s constituencies. The Montgomery Chamber of Commerce is the business organization for the capital city, and the Christian Coalition of Alabama is a socially conservative advocacy group. Figures’ campaign did not name the statewide news organization that extended the third invitation.

What it means for voters

Without a debate, voters in the district will likely have to rely on campaign advertising, candidate forums, interviews and the candidates’ own statements to compare them. Whether any of the three organizations will hold an event with only one candidate, or whether Marques will reconsider, had not been announced.

For voters preparing for Nov. 3, a few reminders:

• Check your registration. Alabama residents can confirm their registration status and polling place through the Alabama Secretary of State’s office at AlabamaVotes.gov. The state’s registration deadline falls about two weeks before Election Day.
• Know the ID rules. Alabama requires voters to show a valid photo ID at the polls. Free voter ID cards are available through the Secretary of State’s office and county boards of registrars for those who need one.
• Absentee voting. Voters who qualify to vote absentee should apply through their county absentee election manager well before the election.
• Research the candidates. Both campaigns publish their positions and records online, and the candidates’ votes in Congress and the Legislature are part of the public record.

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.