WASHINGTON — As furniture lines the halls of Capitol Hill with the impending departure and arrival of more than a hundred House members, Rep. Shomari Figures is staying put.
After winning reelection last week in a district redrawn to favor Republicans, the Mobile-turned-Montgomery Democrat is settling in for a second term in Congress, and one in which his party will be in the majority.
Figures won by eight points against Republican State Rep. Rhett Marques in the newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District, which President Donald Trump won by 14 points in 2024.
Every county in the new 2nd District, stretching from the Wiregrass to Montgomery, went more Democratic this year compared to the 2024 presidential election. Figures also flipped rural Barbour County, which went for Trump by 15 points. Figures won it by four.
He said a convergence of factors helped him win this year: backlash to redistricting, economic conditions and anger with the Trump administration.
“I think people were just tired, tired of being lied to by this administration, tired of the theatrics and the antics and the departures from just normal standards of decency and integrity,” Figures told Alabama Daily News in an interview Wednesday in his office.
With Democrats taking control of both chambers, a push and pull is likely to emerge within the party between prioritizing efforts to investigate the Trump administration and legislation to tackle the cost of living.
Figures said affordability should take precedence next year.
“The more pronounced (wrongs), they need to be called out, they need to be investigated, they need to be addressed, and where appropriate, people need to be held accountable,” Figures told ADN.
“But what we cannot do is go into a situation where on day one everybody’s focus is trying to impeach the president. That didn’t work out so well for us last time it happened twice, and so that can’t be the focus.”
Democrats are also eager to work on health care when they take the reins of Congress. Progressives have floated pursuing Medicare for All, a single-payer national health care system, next year while moderates are more focused on incremental reforms rather than sweeping changes.
Figures said it’s important to be realistic about what Democrats can do on health care while President Donald Trump is still in the White House.
“We can drive money to our rural hospitals and our non-rural hospitals to help bolster up the funding,” he said. “We can re-incentivize states to be able to expand Medicaid, which the state of Alabama never did. We can make these changes. These are things that we can do.”
Renewing the Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium subsidies, which expired last year, is another option, Figures said. He considered those reforms “more palatable than some of the grander objectives.”
Voting rights
After redistricting upended Alabama’s congressional lines and others across the country, the Alabama Democrat said it’s crucial lawmakers “move the ball forward” on voting rights, even if only to prepare for when Trump is no longer in office.
He acknowledged that Trump would most likely not sign sweeping legislation like the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act into law, which would strengthen voting rights protections through federal oversight.
That bill, led by Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, would also probably need modifications after the Supreme Court’s Louisiana v. Callais ruling, Figures said.
“There may be some ways that we can get some aspects of voting rights protections across the finish line, but just understanding the realities of this president, probably not necessarily, in terms of getting him to sign something into law,” Figures told ADN.
Committee preferences
In his second term, Figures is eyeing a potential spot on the Appropriations Committee, noting that Alabama’s current appropriators, all Republicans, will be in the minority should they remain on the panel next year.
He said having a Democrat on the coveted committee, which allows lawmakers to send federal dollars home, would benefit the whole state.
“So appropriations around the state is something that we’re going to have to rely on Democrats in the delegation to help with, and so Terri Sewell and myself both stand ready and willing to do that, and so we just want to be helpful as much as we can.”
The congressman is also interested in keeping his spot on the Agriculture Committee, or joining a different committee that touches that industry, such as Energy and Commerce.
Figures also serves on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, the only Alabama member on that committee during the 119th Congress.
Figures backs Jeffries
In his bid for speaker, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries faces some potential defections from incoming Democrats pushing for change. But Figures is squarely behind Jeffries, who is still expected to ultimately win and lead the chamber next year.
The Democratic leader immediately supported Figures when Alabama’s map changed and backed him throughout his reelection campaign, including visiting the state as his last campaign stop before Election Day.
“He just navigated us through, regardless of where you are on the political spectrum, I think we can all agree this is one of the more tumultuous two-year tenures of any presidential administration in recent memory,” Figures said. “He navigated us through that, raised the most funds that this party has ever raised, and positioned us to be able to deliver the largest majority that either party has had this century…and that is impressive.”
The pair are also members of the Congressional Black Caucus. Should Jeffries win the internal leadership contest next week, he is poised to become the nation’s first Black speaker in January.