Republican candidate Caroleene Dobson (left) debates Democratic candidate Shomari Figures (right) in a forum hosted by the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce in Montgomery on Oct. 2, 2024. Former U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, stands between them. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector)
Republican candidate Caroleene Dobson and Democratic candidate Shomari Figures offered differing visions for Alabama’s newly-drawn 2nd Congressional District in a debate Wednesday.
Dobson and Figures sparred over national security, health care and economic policy in a debate hosted by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce and moderated by former U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery. The two candidates also attacked each other’s background and experience outside of Alabama.
Dobson, who repeatedly called Figures a “Washington insider,” is a Harvard graduate and attended law school in Texas, where she practiced until moving back to Alabama several years ago. Figures, who moved to Washington D.C. after completing law school in Alabama and moved back to Alabama in late 2023, attacked Dobson over a deal involving a Mexican company that a Texas-based law firm she worked for helped broker. Both candidates are originally from Alabama.
“My opponent mentions the border, but what she fails to mention about the border is that in her early legal career, she spent time in Texas actually selling millions of acres of our border state land in Texas to shadow companies owned by Mexican investors,” Figures said.
Dobson responded that she helped a company “fleeing from the cartel” buy office space. After the debate, she said that several companies have relocated to San Antonio, where she practiced real estate law, and that she had a part “as an associate.”
“Because of the cartel crisis over the past couple of decades, several Mexican companies have legally relocated to San Antonio. One of them is a company buying real estate office buildings,” she said.
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Economic policy
Both candidates focused on the economy as an issue central to the district. Dobson criticized the Biden administration’s economic policies, saying they have led to inflation and strained small businesses.
“We have got to create jobs, we’ve got to combat inflation, we have got to get our economy back on track, stop reckless government spending and instead invest in solutions that are going to bring about change for this community,” Dobson said.
Figures said that government investment in infrastructure and health care is key to creating jobs and improving the quality of life in the district.
“We also have to make sure that we’re preparing our communities to be able to compete in the future of farming. Too many rural communities still don’t have access to the internet. If you’re going to be able to compete in the future of farming, you must be able to incorporate the appropriate levels of technology to facilitate being able to be in that business,” Figures said.
Health care
In discussing health care, Figures called for the expansion of Medicaid in Alabama, and said that if elected, he would support legislation to incentivize Alabama to expand the program with reimbursement to cover the cost of the program initially. He pointed to the closure of several hospitals in the district over the past years and Alabama’s low life expectancy rate as a result of not expanding Medicaid, adding that if people had access to preventative health care, the state would not have such poor health outcomes.
“Because one thing that we know in America– we spend the vast majority of our healthcare dollars on people who are over the age of 60. If we can make them healthier earlier in life, the cheaper it will be a savings in the long term,” Figures said.
Dobson argued that the health care crisis and rising costs are linked to inflation.
“We also have to recognize that the best insurance is the one that you get through your job. We need to create more jobs to allow people to have private insurance. They’re going to pay those reimbursements to keep our rural hospitals open,” Dobson said.
Abortion
Candidates were asked if they would codify Roe v. Wade into law, protecting access to abortions in federal law.
Figures expressed strong support for codifying Roe, arguing that decisions about abortion should remain with women and their health care providers, not the government.
“I think it’s pretty simple. If you don’t believe in abortion, if you don’t want an abortion, don’t have one. But it is not the role of government and politicians to be telling women what they can and cannot do with their bodies,” he said.
Dobson, who said she was anti-abortion, said the U.S. Supreme Court has already decided the issue, saying that “abortion is an issue that is best left to the states, and I stand by that decision.” She said she supports exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother.
“This is an issue that’s best left to state legislatures to decide with compassion, consensus and common sense,” she said.
Foreign policy
The candidates also addressed tensions in the Middle East, with the recent missile attacks on Israel. Both Dobson and Figures supported strong U.S. ties with Israel, but their approaches differed on broader foreign policy.
Dobson linked the instability in the region to what she described as the Biden administration engaging “in equivocation when it comes to support for Israel” and linked the conflict to Obama’s administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, adding that “you can’t trust an alum of the Obama-Biden administration to stand with Israel.”
“We must stand with Israel. We must take a tough stance against Iran and the terrorist groups they support that seek to destroy America,” she said.
Figures stressed the importance of diplomacy in dealing with the conflict, adding that the U.S. must find solutions “without isolating our partners in Israel.”
“We must provide them the resources they need to continue to defend themselves, and we must continue to lead every way that we possibly can to limit this situation from escalating to a point where it runs the risk of putting boots on the grounds of American soldiers,” he said.
Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, which now includes most of Mobile County, Montgomery, and several rural counties, is expected to lean Democratic, according to the Cook Political Report.
The election will take place on November 5.
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