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AL-2 candidates head into final stretch with significant campaign cash

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Congressional candidates for Alabama’s redrawn 2nd Congressional District are heading into the final stretch of their respective campaigns, and with significant cash on hand according to their new quarterly campaign finance reports.

Covering the third quarter of 2024, which spans from July 1 to Sept. 30, the reports show that Republican candidate Caroleene Dobson with $491,765 in cash on hand and Democratic candidate Shomari Figures with $745,215.

With less than three weeks until election day, campaign cash reflects candidates’ ability to keep their operations running through the end, with extended ad buys on television, radio and digital as well as get-out-the-vote operations.

Having become the most competitive congressional race in Alabama this election cycle, the race is significant as it’s the first test of Alabama’s new congressional district map, adopted last year by order of a federal court to create a second district, District 2, in which Black voters could elect a candidate of their choice. The race is also highly watched as Republicans try to maintain their slim majority in the U.S. House.

Caroleene Dobson

More than half of Dobson’s remaining cash on hand comes from a $295,000 loan she issued her campaign, bringing the total amount Dobson has loaned her campaign this election cycle to $1.68 million. 

Dobson has been putting that cash to use, too, with her campaign’s expenditures this quarter totaling $840,275, more than half of which was paid out to a single entity, American Media & Advocacy Group, a Virginia-based advertising firm that Dobson’s campaign paid $444,115.

Advertising made up the bulk of Dobson’s campaign spending this quarter, totaling $575,118. Dobson also spent $127,344 on fundraising consulting, $58,652 on strategic campaign consulting, $5,282 on airfare, and $5,800 on lodging during the third quarter.

Dobson’s campaign expenditures exceeded her receipts this quarter by approximately $282,000, with her campaign raking in $558,228 in contributions; $395,655 from individual contributions, and $131,950 from political action committees, or PACs.

Among her strongest PAC supporters were those from conservative organizers such as HUCK PAC with a $5,000 contribution, auto dealers such as the Automotive Free International Trade PAC with a $5,000 contribution, and those in the agricultural sector such as the Peanut PAC of Alabama with a $2,000 contribution.

Compared to the second quarter, Dobson ended with nearly $20,000 more cash on hand, spent an additional $297,000, and received just under $1,000 more in campaign contributions.

Shomari Figures

Figures’ $745,215 cash on hand was in large part due to an impressive funding haul of nearly $1.07 million in campaign contributions during the third quarter; $816,060 from individual contributions, and $253,214 from PACs. 

His campaign’s expenditures for quarter three totaled $654,738, with his largest buy by far being $254,374 for digital media advertising from the media firm GPS Impact, based in Des Moines, Iowa. Other large expenditures during quarter three included $73,732 to American Express for credit card payments, and $52,403 for campaign management services from MacMail Advertising, a Birmingham-based campaign strategy firm.

Smaller expenditures Figures’ campaign saw during quarter three included $35,234 for fundraising consulting services, $20,000 for polling, $17,563 for travel expenses, and $8,905 for print advertising.

Figures’ receipts this quarter exceeded his expenditures by $415,255, a reversal of Dobson’s campaign that saw expenditures exceed receipts.

The $253,214 in contributions from PACs came largely from organizations representing labor, such as the American Federation of Teachers with a $5,000 contribution, and Democratic and minority-supporting PACs, such as two $5,000 contributions from the House Majority PAC and a The Collective PAC, respectively.

Figures’ $745,215 cash on hand in quarter three was $443,237 more than his campaign’s available funds at the end of quarter two. His campaign had spent an additional $406,480 during the third quarter when compared to the second, but received $591,614 more in contributions.

A race to the finish

Both candidates’ fundraising hauls and expenditures dwarfed those other congressional campaigns in the state. 

For instance, U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, who currently represents District 2 though is now the Republican nominee for District 1 after defeating District 1 incumbent Jerry Carl, received $113,798 in contributions during quarter three, and saw $114,937 in expenditures. He faces Democrat Tom Holmes next month. In District 5, U.S. Rep. Dale Strong received $133,448 in contributions, and saw $72,034 in expenditures. He’s running unopposed on Nov. 5.

The shakeup from Alabama’s congressional districts being redrawn have made the race for District 2 among the most watched in the nation, particularly due to the pushback from some state leaders in response to the court-ordered map being imposed.

While the district now leans Democrat, political experts believe it to still be in play for Republicans, and that Figures will likely have to win a sizable share of undecided voters to be able to turn the district blue.

Backed by the U.S. Supreme Court, the lower court’s decision to impose a new congressional map on the state came after they ruled that the state’s existing map likely violated the Voting Rights Act by lumping a disproportionate number of Black voters into a single district, District 7, and thereby diluted their voting power and congressional representation.

The voter registration deadline in Alabama is Oct. 21, and the last day to apply for an absentee ballot by mail is Oct. 29, or Oct. 31 if done in person. The general election is on Tuesday, Nov. 5.

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