Shomari Figures, a former aide to Attorney General Merrick Garland, is projected to win his House race in Alabama’s newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District, according to Decision Desk HQ.
His victory gives Democrats a rare pickup opportunity in a ruby-red state that former President Trump won by 25 points in 2020. It also gives the state its second Black member of Congress for the first time in its history.
The 2nd District became the center of a long-running legal battle after a federal court ruled the state had illegally gerrymandered the district to weaken the power of Black voters, who make up roughly a quarter of the state’s population. The state was then required to redraw the district, giving Democrats a rare opportunity to flip a seat that had until now been reliably Republican.