DOTHAN, Ala. — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise urged Republicans Monday to rally around State Rep. Rhett Marques during a campaign stop in Dothan as both national parties vie for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District seat.
Speaking after a law enforcement roundtable, Scalise called the newly redrawn district, stretching from the Wiregrass to Montgomery, a “swing district” that Republicans need to flip red this year to maintain control of the U.S. House and keep Scalise as majority leader.
“This seat absolutely will have a larger say on the direction of the country,” Scalise told reporters. “Do we want conservative policies that are rooted in common sense, or do you want far-left socialists, defund the police agenda moving forward?”
Marques is facing Democratic U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures after Alabama Republicans redistricted this year to give the GOP an edge in the newly redrawn district. But the race isn’t a foregone Republican win.
Though the Cook Political Report rates the race as Likely Republican, national Democratic groups, hoping to keep the seat blue in an unfavorable national political environment for the GOP, have poured millions into backing Figures’ campaign.
Scalise called out Figures for receiving some of that outside Democratic support and said that could ultimately sway Republican voters to head to the polls in two weeks to prevent “Chicago politics” in Alabama.
“I’m here from another Gulf Coast state, a neighboring state, supporting a like-minded conservative with common sense,” the Louisiana Republican said. “He’s got people like Governor Pritzker of Illinois funding his campaign. He’s got Cory Booker from New Jersey coming in.”
U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., is set to campaign with Figures and Dothan and Montgomery on Thursday.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s political action committee, No Going Back, has spent about $1.6 million on advertising to boost Figures in the race, according to AdImpact. On the other side, a President Donald Trump-aligned super PAC has spent about $2.1 million so far on ads to back Marques’ campaign.
Flanked by local law enforcement officers, Marques also made the case on Monday that the 2nd District race has national implications and urged Republicans to vote in two weeks.
“We can have Leader Scalise continue leadership, or we can go the other direction toward Democrat socialists leading this country and that’s not the direction that we here in Alabama want,” Marques said. “We want to take Alabama common sense to Washington, D.C.”
Marques said the difference between him and Figures is “vast” and highlighted how he believes the people of the 2nd District need “a proven conservative leader” who is focused on “cutting taxes, protecting our families, supporting law enforcement, our military, our veterans, our farmers.”
The Enterprise Republican also contrasted his background in the Wiregrass as a small business owner with Figures, who previously lived in Maryland, working on the Biden-Harris transition team and at the Department of Justice under former Attorney General Merrick Garland until he ran for Congress for the first time back in his hometown of Mobile in 2023.
“Gas is high and Rhett Marques is why. He raised the gas tax by 67% in Alabama,” Figures said in a statement in Alabama Daily News in response to Marques’ comments. “Rhett knows the district lines recently changed and he keeps saying he raised his family in the district. Guess what else he raised in the district? Your taxes, 22 times. If he truly believes all this nonsense he says, we should just debate.”
Campaign ads attacking Marques have repeatedly called him out for voting in the Alabama Legislature in 2019 to raise the gas tax by 10 cents over three years. The Rebuild Alabama Act helped fund infrastructure upgrades across the state. The Alabama House voted 83-20, with lawmakers from both sides of the aisle voting in favor of the increase.
“We took it upon ourselves to make sure that we took care of our families, protected our children who couldn’t even pass some of the bridges over school buses that were having to go out of the way,” Marques said Monday, explaining his vote. “It was a safety issue.”
Marques also said that the gas tax increase spurred economic development across the state, such as growth at the Port of Mobile and newly started construction of the Mobile River Bridge.
Heading into the final sprint of the campaign, Figures entered October with $1.38 million on hand and Marques had $328,000.
The general election is Nov. 3.