The 2024 election cycle has ended, with Republicans holding control of all three branches of government. The Washington Examiner interviewed over two dozen new members as they prepare to take office in January. Part 7 of Capitol’s new crop will focus on Shomari Figures, who represents a new court-ordered district in Alabama.
Rep.-elect Shomari Figures (D-AL) will enter Congress in January thanks in part to a Supreme Court ruling and experience he’s built working in three branches of government.
Figures’ election in November to represent a newly drawn majority-black district in southern Alabama came as Republicans won total control of Washington, D.C., led by President-elect Donald Trump, who campaigned on slashing the “weaponized” federal government he distrusts.
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Descending from a line of political activists in his family and with wide government experience, Figures, 39, has a positive view of the federal government that he hopes to channel for the good of his new district that includes parts of Montgomery and Mobile counties.
“I believe in the power of the federal government to do good and to do good for people who need it most. And so that’s what we’re going to do every single day,” Figures told the Washington Examiner.
His family has ties to civil rights activism in Alabama. His father, Michael Figures, was a notable civil rights attorney and member of the Alabama Senate. His mother, Vivian Davis Figures, succeeded her husband in the Alabama Senate via special election after his death in 1996. She is still in office today.
“I kind of grew up in this space of my parents always asking us a question of, how do you take what God has given you and put it to use for the benefit and betterment of the people and places you care most about,” Figures said.
Figures previously worked in the Obama administration, later becoming the White House liaison to Loretta Lynch, an attorney general of the United States under Obama. After Obama left office, Figures became legislative counsel for outgoing Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
He worked on President Joe Biden’s presidential transition team before serving as Attorney General Merrick Garland’s deputy chief of staff, leaving the role in 2023 to run his congressional campaign.
He said his time working in all three branches of government has given him key experience needed to now serve Congress.
Once sworn into office in January, Figures said he is looking to join the House Committee on Appropriations to “try to drive the resources home to too many communities that have not been the beneficiary of leadership.”
Figures wants to bring back healthcare facilities to his district, which he hopes in turn would boost business in the area.
“We have a significant rural healthcare crisis in our district. We’ve seen several hospitals close just in the last year that we were running for this seat, there are several more that are on the verge of closing,” Figures said.
“It makes it tough for those communities to be able to recruit in businesses, to recruit in residents, to have retirees want to settle down there,” he continued. “It’s a very tough conversation to pitch to a business to come locate here, when that pitch begins with, we don’t have a hospital.”
Figures said he wants to work across the aisle because Republicans “represent districts that struggle for some of the same issues that we’re looking to address in our district as well.”
He said he joined the Congressional Black Caucus, which he said was “incredibly supportive” of his campaign and holds “such a special place in the history of districts,” like his own that came out of the Voting Rights Act. He also said he joined the New Democrat Coalition so far.
In 2023, the Supreme Court struck down Alabama’s congressional maps as they were ruled not compliant with the Voting Rights Act. Around 26.6% of the state is black, but until the decision just one of their six districts was majority black until the ruling. After some back-and-forth in the courts, Alabama now has two majority-black districts to better represent the state.
Until the redistricting and Figures’s win, the Alabama congressional delegation had just one Democrat, Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL), who he said has been “a mentor, an inspiration, and a friend for a very long time.”
On the entire Alabama delegation in the House and Senate, which is all Republicans save for Sewell, Figures said they have all been “warm” and “welcoming.”
“They’ve all made a point … about the relationship and the strength of the relationship of the delegation to make sure that we’re always working to prioritize Alabama,” he noted.
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With everything that led to his win this year, Figures said he’s ready to deliver results.
“We’re not coming up here to be a Democrat. We’re not coming up here to just play in a broader national political game. We’re here to do the work,” Figures said. “We’re here to bring the resources home. We’re here to get those hospitals back open. We’re here to drive the economic development in our district.”
