Figures, Dobson win runoffs in redrawn Alabama district

Voters enter the polling station at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Ala., on Dec. 12, 2017.

Shomari Figures, a former Obama administration White House official, won the Democratic nomination in Alabama’s 2nd District on Tuesday in a runoff election.

Figures, who more recently worked for the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick B. Garland, had 58 percent of the vote when The Associated Press called the race at 9:47 p.m.

He defeated Anthony Daniels, the state House minority leader, who claimed the second spot in the runoff in a primary last month. Figures won 43.5 percent of the vote last month in the 11-way primary, while Daniels took 22.4 percent.

Figures raised $416,000 through March 31, according to Federal Election Commission filings, and had more outside help than his opponent. Ahead of the runoff election, Protect Progress, a super PAC with ties to the cryptocurrency industry, spent $917,000 supporting Figures or opposing Daniels. The group spent a total of $2.6 million to help Figures for the entire campaign.

A group called Progress for Alabama spent $47,000 opposing Figures ahead of the runoff.

The newly drawn 2nd District is open after Alabama was ordered last year to draw a new map that would give Black voters more influence in picking their representative. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the race as Likely Democratic.

Figures will face Republican Caroleene Dobson, an attorney and first-time candidate, in the November election.

Dobson defeated Dick Brewbaker, a former member of the state House and Senate. She had 56 percent of the vote when the AP called the race at 9:56 p.m.

Dobson reported raising $1.2 million through March 27, $922,000 of which she loaned her campaign. That was less than Brewbaker, who raised $1.8 million in that timeframe but loaned his campaign $1.6 million.

Rep. Barry Moore, the current 2nd District representative, defeated fellow Rep. Jerry Carl in the GOP primary for the 1st District last month.