2nd Congressional District: Shomari Figures wants to leverage federal experience

This is one in an ongoing series of profiles of candidates in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. Read the profiles to date here.

Shomari Figures feels his experience working in the federal government could be an advantage to Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District.

The attorney said he has spent years working in Washington and has built a network of people on Capitol Hill, which he can leverage to better serve the district.

“Who’s best situated to get them to prioritize the issues that are priorities in this district? That’s what I bring to the table,” he said.

Before entering the race, Figures served as deputy chief of staff & counselor to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.  Previously, Figures worked as a congressional staffer for U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, for three years. Figures also worked in former President Barack Obama’s 2nd term as deputy director of the Presidential Personnel Office. 

The new district, which includes Montgomery, northern Mobile County and the southern Black Belt and spans the length of the state, was created after a federal court ruled that an earlier congressional map did not give Black voters an opportunity to choose their preferred leaders.

Figures said poor access to health care is a key issue in the district. He said that addressing those issues start with partnerships with existing infrastructure, such as community colleges that offer health care training. But Figures said that Medicaid expansion would go a “long way.”

While Medicaid expansion would have to be done on a state level, he said that there is still a role for the federal government to play. He said that they have to get the U.S. Congress to raise the reimbursement rates to cover at least 100% of the cost of expansion, but he’d like to encourage expansion by offering grants and other funding that could bring that share over 100%.

“The state of Alabama never took the federal government up on the reimbursement rates … but at the end of the day, it’s something that we can go to Congress and lobby for to be able to re-incentivize the state to reconsider,” he said.

He also said education also needs improvement in the district. Figures said children going to school in outdated buildings and teachers also deserve more benefits and pay for the work they do.

“Our teachers and our schools support personnel are the single most important profession to the future of this district, this state and this country,” Figures said. “They educate and prepare every other profession, including the jobs of the future, that we want to come into this district.”

Teacher pay is generally set by the state. Figures said that did not not exclude the possibility of federal grant funding targeted, which could be used to hire specific types of teachers or create incentives to bring more talent to the district.

Figures, the son of Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile and the late Sen. Michael Figures, D-Mobile, who served as President Pro Tem of the Alabama Senate, said he moved back to Mobile as soon as he decided he was going to run for the seat. He also said he lives in the portion of the city within the 2nd Congressional District.

“You have to have that level of connectivity with the people in the district. You have to show them that you are indeed committed and dedicated enough to them to actually live amongst them, work amongst them, go to church amongst them while you’re asking them to vote for you,” Figures said.

Figures said voters deserve a representative who is fully committed to the district and not someone who promises to move if they win.

“That is the type of transactional leadership that we cannot afford in this district,” Figures said.