A Washington Record, in a District That Isn't Washington

Wall of Shame — Today: Bradley Arant

Today on the Wall of Shame: the Bradley Arant Boult Cummings PAC (Birmingham) has put $2,500 into Rep. Shomari Figures' campaign account. One of Alabama’s largest law and lobbying firms — an access play. The Wall of Shame exists for one reason — so that total stops growing. https://take2back.com/wall-of-shame.html

A WASHINGTON RECORD, IN A DISTRICT THAT ISN'T WASHINGTON

The restored 2023 map put District 2 back where its politics actually live — a seat President Trump carried by fourteen points. Its congressman votes with the national Democratic caucus. In April, Shomari Figures voted for the resolution to bar President Trump from further military action against Iran without Congress's sign-off; it failed by a single vote, 213 to 214. During the shutdown fight, he voted against the measure to fund and reopen the government, lining up with his party's leadership. That is not a Wiregrass record. It is a Washington record, cast in a district that is not Washington.

WASHINGTON IS ALREADY SPENDING TO KEEP HIM

The people who read the new map first were the ones with money on the outcome. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report moved this seat from "solid Republican" to "likely Republican." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee added Figures to its Frontline list — the roster of its most endangered incumbents, the ones who get the national cash and staff. And he got it: his cash on hand doubled last quarter, and we showed you why — not the neighbors, the national machine. The party is spending here because the party has decided the seat is winnable.

WHAT HE DIDN'T MARK

Notice what his office did not put out. This is America's 250th summer — the Semiquincentennial, the largest civic milestone in a generation, celebrated in towns across the Second District. From his official newsroom: not one word for it. His most recent release, dated June 24, is a tax bill. A congressman who cannot find a single line for the nation's 250th birthday is telling you where his attention sits — and it is not here.

THE BOTTOM LINE

The map moved back. Cook moved it. Washington is spending to hold it. This seat is in play — the most in play it has been since it was drawn. Six Republicans are on the August 11 ballot, and which one carries this district is for the voters of the Second District to decide — not a committee in Washington, and not this newsletter. Our fight is with the incumbent and the money behind him.

August 11. Then November 3.