Both parties will decide their nominee for Alabama’s newly-drawn 2nd Congressional District on Tuesday as voters cast their ballots in a primary runoff election that narrowed a wide field of candidates. The election is historic for Alabama as product of a 2023 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court and subsequent court-imposed redistricting of congressional maps approved by the Alabama Legislature in 2021. 

Last month, businessman and former State Sen. Dick Brewbaker and Caroleene Dobson, a Montgomery attorney with a lifelong tie to Alabama farming and agriculture, secured a spot in Tuesday’s runoff election to decide the Republican challenger in a district effectively designed to favor Democratic voters in the November general election. 

Brewbaker came out ahead in the primary with 37% of the vote, followed by Dobson at 24.8% to edge out current State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), who received 25.3%. Roughly 57,000 GOP voters turned out. 

Both Brewbaker and Dobson spoke to Yellowhammer News on Monday about the campaign they’ve run – and the fight they hope to wage in order to hold onto the seat for the GOP in November. 

“With the division so close in Congress, all of a sudden, with [AL-02] being in play for both parties, I think it’s going to be an exciting run between [Tuesday] and November,” Brewbaker said. 

“First of all, it’s going to be expensive. Both national parties consider this a district that’s winnable,” he said of that stretch of time. “It’s going to come down to who can energize their voters, and who can get them to the polls, and also, who can appeal to independent voters.”

Caroleene Dobson, who entered the race with virtually no name identification among voters, has since closed that gap by leaps and bounds headed into runoff election day. According to some polls, she leads today, and could win against the Democratic challenger in November.

“The very future of the United States,” Dobson said when asked what’s at stake in 2024. 

“At every seam, Biden and the Democrats are pulling at the very fabric of our nation, and it is imperative that we not only maintain control of this seat and the House of Representatives but also send a true conservative to Washington who will fight for Alabama families and fight to save our country,” she said. 

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Both candidates described a close connection to the newly-drawn district despite the region’s new political dynamics. Dobson said she’s been familiar with the district’s geography since her childhood growing up on her family’s farm in Monroe County.

“It includes coastal plains, part of the Black Belt, bits of the Wiregrass and even some parts that could pass for Appalachia, like the magical Ridgeville area in Butler County. Regardless of the terrain, though, it is beautiful country inhabited by some of the most kind and hard-working people,” Dobson said. “Having grown up in a small town myself, I’ve loved getting to spend time in all the many small towns that make up this district.”

Brewbaker said there are new “divergent interests” involved since redistricting. 

“I think what’s really different about this district is the old AL-02, politically and economically, made a lot of sense. It kept together communities of economic interest. If you talked about the old [AL-02], it was the military and agriculture, and higher ed – that was sort of the economic drivers in that district. The new [AL-02] sort of cuts across economic avenues of growth instead of running along them,” Brewbaker said. 

“Whether it’s new locks on the river in Barbour County, or whether it’s major renovations of the Port of Mobile, everybody’s got something. 12 of the 13 counties are losing population. And so those infrastructure projects, to bring in some economic growth and to generate more activity that is there now, is just absolutely crucial.”

Brewbaker and Dobson both identified inflation and illegal immigration as the core issue on the minds of Republican voters they’ve met on the campaign trail.

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“Everybody talks about food inflation. Food inflation in South Alabama is about 30% – which is three times the rate of inflation in the general economy. And eggs are literally twice as expensive as they were a year ago,” Brewbaker said.  

Dobson said, “the invasion of our country by illegal aliens at our southern border is at the forefront of the minds of Alabamians,” with inflation as a close second, describing a reality where all families are taking a hit at the grocery store, the gas pump, and on their monthly household bills.  

“In addition to inflation and the border crisis, voters are concerned about the rise of crime in our communities, exacerbated by the number of illegal aliens roaming throughout our country and the lack of respect towards our law enforcement, the lack of effective treatment options and facilities for the mentally ill in our communities, and the open attack on Christianity and Judaism by the Biden administration,” Dobson said. 

Brewbaker separately agreed that illegal immigration, the Southern Border, and comorbidities including an influx of violent crime and Fentanyl overdose are top of mind. 

“Almost everybody has a Fentanyl story. A friend, or a friend of a friend has someone in their family that either died or nearly died. Since 2015, 750 Americans a year were dying from Fentanyl. Now, it’s about 200 Americans a day. That is what frustrates people. They know this is something we could do something about. The FBI has said repeatedly the precursor chemicals for fentanyl come from China to Mexico,” Brewbaker said.

“The cartels manufacture them into fentanyl. And they come across the border along with all of the illegal immigrants. And if our government had the will to secure the border, the fentanyl problem would solve itself,” he added. “But we can secure it. We can.”

“I don’t care if it takes every National Guardsman in the country.”

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Tuesday’s Republican victor will go head-to-head with either State Rep. Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville), who has a long track record in the Alabama Legislature as House Minority Leader and a loose claim to residency within the district, or Shomari Figures, a Mobile native with a dynastic connection to South Alabama, who’s spent the majority of his time since 2008 working for various departments across the Obama administration.

Both Brewbaker and Dobson agreed: Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District will be a high-visibility flashpoint in a fight for the House majority in 2024 and beyond.

Dobson said her approach will play out across both grassroots and national fundraising fronts. She made clear she was prepared to work closely with the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC). 

“I will be enlisting their help, as well as the help of other Republicans throughout the nation, to ensure that we have the resources and support needed to defeat the Democrats in November and fight for conservative values in Washington,” Dobson said. 

Brewbaker said he can win over independent voters with an approach that he took during his time in the Alabama Senate. “My reputation in the State Senate was that I was good at solving problems by being able to work with anybody,” he said. 

He cited involvement in pro-life issues beyond abortion, such as autism insurance and school choice movements, as well as judicial override. He said his capability to connect with moderate and independent voters could become key, while also pointing to his “Trump-related endorsements” in the primary, including Veterans for Trump, Lee Greenwood, General Mike Flynn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. 

“I want him [Donald Trump] to be at the top of our ticket,” Brewbaker said. “Because that provides the best chance for Republicans to get enough turnout to hold the district.”

Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270