Marques-Figures Matchup for Alabama’s 2nd District Set to Draw National Money, Attention This Fall

Tuesday’s special primary set up a nationally watched general election matchup for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, pitting Republican state Rep. Rhett Marques of Enterprise against Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures of Mobile in a race that could help decide control of Congress next year.

The district was redrawn by the Alabama Legislature after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the state to reinstate a map it had previously found discriminated against Black voters, giving the district a Republican lean; it is now rated R+7 by a national ratings analysis. Figures won the district in 2024 under a court-ordered map with a Black voting-age population of 48.7%. The newer map lowers that figure to 39.9%.

Democrats Vow to Defend the Seat

Democratic leaders say they intend to fight hard to defend the seat. Senate Minority Leader Bobby Singleton, D-Greensboro, who was elected chair of the Alabama Democratic Party over the weekend, said holding Figures’ seat is a top priority. “We’re going to be very aggressive in this district. I think that this is a very volatile district for us and we’re going to take a lot of resources over here in CD2,” Singleton said. “Not only in money, but in manpower, boots on the ground. We feel like we can win it.”

In his victory speech Tuesday night, Marques framed the race as a chance to prevent progressive Democrats from gaining influence in Washington. “My opponent, who will be coming up in the fall, he will not only prop them up, he will caucus with them, and he’s going to vote with them,” he said. “Make no mistake about it. The Democrats stay together, and that is scary.”

Figures rejected that characterization, saying his focus remains on the district. “I consider myself to be the type of member that’s representing the state of Alabama, that’s representing District 2,” he said. “What we do every single day is put the people and interests and needs of this district first and foremost… whether it’s issues to help our farmers or issues to help people who need to keep the hospital in their communities open, that’s what we do.”

Alabama GOP Chair Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, echoed Marques’ message, saying Democratic candidates “embrace the values of liberal extremist states like Massachusetts, California, and New York, while our entire Republican slate stands tall for commonsense, conservative Alabama values.”

Low Turnout, Strongest in the Wiregrass

Turnout in Tuesday’s special primaries was low statewide, with just 5.24% of eligible voters casting ballots. Turnout in the 2nd District was somewhat higher at 8.16%, still below the 23% seen in the May 19 primary and 11% in the June runoff.

Turnout was strongest in the Wiregrass region, home to three of the candidates: Marques of Coffee County, David Matthews of Dale County and James Richardson of Henry County. Coffee County posted the highest turnout at 10.56%, and Marques carried it with more than 60% of the vote. Matthews won Dale County, where about 9.25% of voters turned out, while Marques won Henry County, where turnout was 8.24%.

Money and Polling

Both campaigns have raised significant money ahead of the fall election. Figures had raised $1.35 million through July 22 to Marques’ $1.32 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings, with Figures having spent about half his cash and Marques having spent $1.13 million.

An internal Democratic poll from July found the two candidates in a “statistical tie” among 400 likely voters. Marques has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, though Singleton noted that Trump himself won’t be on the ballot. “President Trump is not going to have to run this race. Rep. Marques is going to have to run this race,” Singleton said. “To have President Trump on his side, it’s a good thing for us.”

How the Court-Ordered District Came About

The court-ordered version of the 2nd District that Figures won in 2024 grew out of Allen v. Milligan, the 2023 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, upheld a lower-court ruling that Alabama’s 2021 congressional map likely violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act by including only one majority-Black district out of seven. When the Legislature’s replacement map again contained just one such district, a three-judge federal panel rejected it and imposed a court-drawn map that reconfigured the 2nd District to stretch from Mobile across the southern part of the state. Figures won the seat under that map in November 2024, defeating Republican Caroleene Dobson.