MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Shomari Figures and Caroleene Dobson, the Democratic and Republican candidates for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, respectively, laid out their top priorities Wednesday during a debate in the Capital City.
Figures leaned into his campaign’s messaging by pledging to increase federal incentives for states to expand their Medicaid programs, whereas Dobson, also consistent with her campaign messaging, vowed to reduce regulations on small businesses.
Organized by the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, the debate was held at the Renaissance Hotel & Spa.
Among the first questions posed to the candidates was what their top priorities would be in Congress if elected.
“The thing that I would do day one is walk down the hall to Congresswoman Terri Sewell’s office and co-sponsor the Medicaid expansion bill to again open up reimbursement incentives for the state of Alabama to do what 40 states have already done, and that is expand health care,” Figures said. “That’s priority No. 1.”
Figures also vowed to support additional investments in infrastructure, touting the recent $550 million grant awarded to Alabama for the I-10 Mobile River Bridge project – the single-largest federal grant in Alabama’s history – as an example.
The funding for the $550 million grant came from the 2021 Infrastructure Bill, a key accomplishment of the Joe Biden administration, and something that Figures suggested that his opponent would have voted against it given that every Republican member of Alabama’s Congressional delegation voted no.
Dobson said her largest priority is getting the “economy back on track,” which she said has been damaged by the Biden administration’s energy and regulatory policy.
“This administration that my opponent was part of has been crushing American opportunity,” Dobson said.
“They’ve been crushing American energy, they’ve been (creating) regulations that have made it almost impossible for small businesses to continue to grow and flourish, small businesses that make up so much of this district. So I will fight to ensure that we get our economy running again.”
Dobson also named securing the border as among her top-three priorities if elected. On the topic of health care, Dobson said that illegal immigration was a significant factor in Alabama’s rural health care crisis, arguing that noncitizens were “putting strains on our rural health care facilities.”
On the topic of Medicaid expansion, Dobson maintained that the issue should be left to individual states, but did encourage Alabama state leaders to consider it.
“The question of Medicaid expansion is one left to the states, and I encourage the governor and our state Legislature to examine that given the rural health care crisis that we have,” she said.
The candidates also offered different perspectives when it came to the topic of making Social Security solvent.
Established in 1935 under President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal package of reforms, the program’s solvency has been a major political issue since the early 1980s. Major reforms were enacted in 1982, such as raising the retirement age, though today it is projected to run out of money by 2035.
Figures was adamant that whatever reform to Social Security came his way, he would never support any cuts to the program.
“We can’t afford cuts to it, we can’t afford cuts masked through other language such as ‘looking how we can save costs overall with these programs,’” he said.
“No, we weren’t asking people to save their investments in Social Security while they were working, so we certainly shouldn’t be asking them to change their expectations in what this program is going to put out for them because too many families rely on it.”
Conversely, Dobson pledged to protect Social Security specifically for those currently receiving benefits, or for those who had “been paying into the system for years.”
“What my opponent doesn’t mention is that folks on the left like him have been fostering policies that threaten Social Security,” she said.
Alabama Daily News asked Dobson after the debate to clarify her position on Social Security, to which she reiterated that changes for younger Americans might be necessary to keep the program from becoming insolvent.
“I’ll work with anybody and I’ll consider any solution to solving our Social Security crisis when it comes to folks that are our age and younger,” Dobson, who’s 36, told ADN.
“I think we have to be realistic about the fact that if we continue on our current trajectory, our population has decreased, we don’t have the workers to fund Social Security for people that are 40 and younger under the current system.”
When asked the same question, Figures reiterated that he would not support any cuts to Social Security, but did say reforms were necessary to preserve the program.
“Any cuts, no; any changes to the program to make it more sustainable long term, absolutely, but those changes cannot include cutting the benefits,” he told ADN.
“I think we have to explore all options on the table to make sure that the program is going to be around for people that have paid into the program and are expecting it to be there.”
The general election will be held Nov. 5. The voter registration deadline to participate is Oct. 21, and the last day to apply for an absentee ballot by mail is Oct. 29, and in person is Oct. 31.