Shomari Figures, the Democratic nominee for Alabama’s newly drawn Second Congressional District, has new television advertising ahead of the Nov. 5 general election.
A new ad highlights Figures’ experience in D.C. when Barack Obama was president and his family ties to Alabama politics. It opens with a reference to Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a Dream” speech.
“For my father, a law degree was part of the dream,” Figures says. “He helped integrate the University of Alabama Law School.”
Figures says he followed in his dad’s footsteps, and then went on to work for the U.S. Justice Department and then Obama in the White House.
“In Congress, I’ll work to make college affordable for everyone,” Figures says in the 30-second spot. “Increasing workforce development and job training opportunities, bringing good jobs with good wages to Alabama families.”
Figures’ father, the late Michael Figures, was a state senator and attorney who sued the Ku Klux Klan. Figures’ mother, Sen. Vivian Figures, won her husband’s Senate seat and has served for 27 years.
A Figures’ spokesperson told Alabama Daily News Tuesday ads start this week in the Montgomery market and next week in Montgomery and Mobile.
Republican Caroleene Dobson began airing her first ad of the general election cycle last week. Dobson’s campaign said the cost of the ad buy is being shared by it and the National Republican Congressional Committee. The ad is running in the Mobile and Montgomery markets “with a budget in the mid-six-figures,” the campaign said.
The district was redrawn last year by a federal court to increase its Black population and making this race one of several watched nationwide as Republicans try to keep a slim majority in the House.
This story was corrected to say that Michael Figures was state senator when he sued the Ku Klux Klan.