U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Mobile) is on the air with a new spot tying GOP challenger State Rep. Rhett Marques (R-Enterprise) to Alabama’s 2019 gas tax increase, the latest sign the incumbent plans to make pump prices the closing argument in a district drawn to lean against him.
The 30-second ad, running on television and digital across the 2nd Congressional District, opens with a question — “How high did Rhett Marques raise the gas tax?” — answered by kids chanting “six-seven, six-seven, six-seven” with an adult following: “Rhett Marques voted to raise the gas tax by 67%.”
AdImpact: Rep. Shomari Figures (D-AL) releases 67 themed ad pic.twitter.com/bOK9YbWAB8
— Politics & Poll Tracker 📡 (@PollTracker2024) October 20, 2026
The chant is a nod to “6-7,” viral slang that took over middle schools last year.
The Figures campaign is betting the percentage sticks with voters whose kids have been yelling it at the dinner table for a year.
“And Marques voted to increase taxes 22 times,” the narrator continues. “Now Marques supports the tariffs and the war in Iran, sending gas prices through the roof.”
The spot closes with a voter saying, “He’s costing us,” followed by Figures’s approval tag.
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Marques voted for the Rebuild Alabama Act, the 2019 law that phased in a 10-cent-per-gallon increase in the state’s fuel tax to fund roads and bridges. The bill passed the House 83-20 with support from most of the Republican supermajority.
The ad does not spell out how it arrives at 67% or which 22 votes it counts.
The vote dogged Marques through the Republican primary, where opponents David Matthews and Hampton Harris made it a centerpiece of their attacks.
Marques won the August special primary outright with roughly 50% of the vote in a six-way field, backed by President Donald Trump’s endorsement and a record he describes as including multiple tax cuts.
The Iran line reflects a broader Democratic push this cycle to link Republican candidates to the conflict and its effect on fuel prices, a theme that has surfaced in House ads nationally.
Figures is defending a seat that no longer looks like the one he won in 2024.
After the Supreme Court cleared Alabama in June to use the Legislature’s 2023 map, the district’s black voting-age population dropped from 48.7% to 39.9%, and the new lines are expected to favor Republicans.
A House Majority PAC survey released this month showed the race tied, and at least one race rater has narrowed the GOP’s edge.
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
