Dobson, Figures portray each other as out-of-touch elites in second debate

On Thursday, Congressional candidates Shomari Figures and Caroleene Dobson debated for the second time as they both seek to represent Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District.

In the first debate between the two candidates earlier this month, they discussed Medicaid expansion, cost of living, and abortion access.

Hosted by AL.com and moderated by AL.com reporter Ivana Hrynkiw, this week’s debate touched on the state of the economy, immigration, and climate change.

In Dobson’s opening statement, she again focused on her personal history in Alabama and in the Second District. Seeking to portray Figures as a political insider and responsible for the perceived failures of the Biden administration, she repeated the familiar political shibboleth, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?”

Figures used his opening statement trying to refute Dobson’s portrayal of him as an outsider. He also argued that his time in Washington would make him a better, not worse, representative of the people in the Second District.

“I’ve had the privilege, I’ve had the ability and experience to be able to learn how Washington works, how government works,” Figures said. “I don’t agree with how it works in many respects, like most people, but I know how we can best leverage that experience to put it to use.”

The first question of the debate was about the state of the economy. Answering first, Dobson used it as an opportunity to talk about the inflation that affected the American economy in recent years. “Without question, inflation is killing us,” she said. “And we are not going to truly curb inflation until we can stop the reckless government spending that this administration my opponent worked for has participated in.”

The most recent report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released Thursday morning, found the Consumer Price Index only rose 2.4 percent between September 2023 and September 2024. The Federal Reserve’s target inflation rate is 2 percent.

Figures said economic policy requires advocates who understand people’s struggles and who aren’t just “picking the nearest Democrat and blaming a Democrat.”

While attempting to paint Dobson as out of touch, Figures claimed that “my opponent is a billionaire.” The financial disclosure form that Dobson filed with the House Ethics Committee, however, puts the upper limit of her net worth slightly below $2 million. “I wish I were a billionaire,” Dobson responded to Figures before touching on the price of his DC area home.

When asked about immigration, Figures attacked Republicans for some of their recent rhetoric by talking about Haitian immigrants he knows. “They immigrated here from Haiti, from Haiti, and they didn’t come to this country and eat dogs and cats,” he said. “What they came and ate was public service, Ivy League degrees, education, and positive contributions to America.”

While not criticizing legal immigration, Dobson pointed to “662,000 individuals with known criminal histories who have come across our border.” She attributed this statistic to Border Patrol data but the Republican candidate appeared to be referring to a recent letter from ICE to Rep. Tony Gonzalez, R-Texas.

When the topic shifted to abortion, both candidates stuck to their established positions. Figures discussed his support for codifying Roe v. Wade into federal law while Dobson maintained that abortion access is best handled at the state level.

However, Dobson took the opportunity to attack Figures by changing the topic to transgender rights. “He can’t say that a man is a man and a woman is a woman, so to say that he’s an advocate for women’s rights is a bit disingenuous,” she claimed.

Laughing as he replied, Figures simply said that “a man is a man and a woman is a woman.” Dobson then requested an opportunity to rebut Figures’ statement and asked whether he would oppose Title IX amendments that have been proposed to help protect transgender children’s ability to participate in youth sports.

“People are not talking about boys playing girls’ sports in the state of Alabama,” Figures responded. “They cannot show me a single example of this happening. This is just yet another example of Republicans looking to galvanize fear against smaller groups of people.”

With two major hurricanes striking Southern states in recent weeks, Hrynkiw also asked both candidates which policies they support to help mitigate the effects of climate change.

Dobson discussed the importance of conservation and nature before saying “this administration has gone too far” when balancing sustainability concerns with “the real utility needs of people in this district.”

She specifically criticized “the Biden administration’s decision to stop exporting liquified natural gas.” However, the Biden administration has only frozen the approval of new export permits. Last year, the United States was actually the largest exporter of LNG in the world and one government agency estimates US export capacity will double in the next four years.

Unlike Dobson, Figures actually addressed climate change in his response. “Climate change is real,” he said. “I think people down in Florida can certainly vouch for it.” He said he would support policy to address climate change that is “responsible, that is informed, and that is narrowly tailored.”

In their closing statements, both candidates thanked viewers for watching and then promised they would be the best choice for voters looking for positive change.

“Washington hasn’t been working for Alabama families,” Dobson said, before once again portraying Figures as a Washington insider and partially to blame for rising prices.

Figures pointed out that “the state of Alabama has been under Republican leadership at almost every level for the past two decades.”

“And in that two decades, here’s what we got,” he averred. “We got the worst life expectancy for all intents and purposes in the United States of America. … We have the sixth worst literacy rate of our children. We have the fourth worst wages of America.”

“My opponent wants you to believe that more Republican leadership is the answer,” Figures stated. “It’s not.”