Originally at https://www.al.com
Democratic congressional candidate Shomari Figures is connecting his Republican opponent in the 2nd congressional district contest to the controversial Project 2025, the 900-page document detailing proposed policies for the possible return of a Donald Trump administration.
Caroleene Dobson, a Republican attorney from Montgomery, is firing back and calling Figures a “Washington insider” who is “spreading lies” about her stance toward Project 2025, as well as distorting her position toward in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The political clash, played out in news releases and media interviews this week, focuses on two policy issues that could be problematic for Republicans in competitive districts with fewer than 100 days remaining before the Nov. 5 general election. The 2nd congressional district, which covers a wide swath of South Alabama, represents a rare competitive race for a U.S. House seat in Alabama and has captured the interests of both national Democratic and Republican campaign groups.
Distortions, connections
Dobson told AL.com this week she is “wholly unfamiliar” with the policies in Project 2025, spearheaded by the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation and involving 100 conservative groups including the Alabama Policy Institute. Figures disputes Dobson’s statement, saying she knows what Project 2025 is and that her campaign aligns with the policies written throughout the massive document.
The plan, since denounced by Trump, proposes to remove protections for thousands of federal employees to make them easier to fire and replace with Republican loyalists. It also proposes sweeping changes to the federal government, including eliminating the Department of Education, reducing the scope of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, limiting mail-order abortion pills, and removing diversity, equity and inclusion hiring policies from federal programs.
“Of course, my opponent knowns what project 2025 is,” Figures said. “She just doesn’t call it that. She calls it ‘Dobson for Congress.’”
Dobson called Figures as a politician who is supported by “liberal extremists” intent of “spreading lies and tall tales.”
She said that “like most Alabamians, I am wholly unfamiliar with the policies in Project 2025 and have only heard about it in passing mentions on (the) Fox News Channel.”
She added, “The only people who care about D.C. think tanks and what they propose are Washington insiders like Shomari Figures and his leftist buddies.”
Dobson isn’t the only Republican the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is linking to Project 2025. The DCCC, which added Figures to its “Red to Blue” program in May, is seeking to tie Republicans in competitive races to Project 2025 as they look for a winning political message before the election. A memo obtained by USA Today says the GOP’s “enthusiastic embrace of these policies will be the anchor the DCCC will use to sink the campaigns of the phony moderates who refuse to stand up to Trump and his extreme agenda in the final sprint towards election day.”
Dobson also said she is concerned over how her position on IVF is being distorted, saying in a news release Wednesday that she supports the federal IVF Protection Act sponsored by Republican U.S. Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. The legislation, which does not have Democratic support, would block Medicaid funding to states that ban IVF.
She also said that Figures and the DCCC are misrepresenting to reporters that she supports a nationwide ban on abortion, which she says is a position she has never voiced.
Dobson is a supporter of Hyde Amendment, which has been recognized by Congress since 1977, and prohibits the use of federal dollars to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
“I have always believed that laws governing abortion are best left to the individual states to decide based upon the morals, values and beliefs of the citizens who live there,” she said. “Compassionate exemptions should always be put in place for cases of rape, incest, and when the life of the mother is at risk.”
IVF, abortion rights
Figures said Dobson’s support of state authority in determining abortion rights is “an extension of the extreme type of philosophy which led to IVF being called into question in the first place in Alabama.”
The Alabama State Supreme Court ruled in February that couples could pursue wrongful death claims for the destruction of their “extrauterine children,” in a decision that temporarily put IVF procedures in Alabama in legal limbo.
Shomari Figures, the former deputy chief of staff and counselor to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland Mayors, participates in a forum about Black-owned businesses as part of the Port City Classic’s Black Business Expo on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, at the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center in Mobile, Ala.John Sharp/[email protected]
“We can’t sit here and punt this issue to the states and have people in Congress sit there silently say we are OK with you telling women what to do with their bodies,” Figures said.
He added, “The fact of the matter is that Republicans had no concerns with jeopardizing IVF when they passed the extreme anti-choice legislation they rammed through Alabama and other parts of the country. They were only worried about it when they saw the ramifications of their extreme actions and the fascination with controlling women’s health care decisions. At the end of the day, Democrats stood by IVF access and a woman’s right to choose and make their own health care decisions.”
Dobson said she is “proudly pro-life,” and is a believer in “helping women and couples to create, nurture, and bring new life into the world.”
“IVF services build families, bring fulfillment to couples who struggle to conceive and keep the promise of Psalms 127:3, which tells us that ‘Children are a heritage from the Lord, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.”
Said Figures, “If they truly care about IVF, they should be able to truly care about women making their own health care decisions.”
Challenges
Polling on Project 2025 and IVF shows difficulties for Republicans, who continue to get attacked by Democrats on both issues.
Project 2025 has, in recent weeks, become more recognized and not in a favorable light amid criticism from Democrats and Trump. In a poll of 1,000 people earlier this month by Navigator Research, a progressive research group, 54% said they were familiar with it, up from 29% from June. Of those polled, 43% said they had an unfavorable view of the project, up from 19% in June.
IVF also continues to be a challenge. The Southern Baptist Convention, traditionally a strong conservative voting bloc, came out in June in opposition of IVF. According to an AP-NORC poll of 1,088 adults last month, about 6 in 10 favor protecting access to IVF, including 77% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans.
Jacyln Bunch, a political science professor at the University of South Alabama, said with the recent surge of support for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in the so-called presidential swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia, Republicans in competitive districts should find ways to avoid issues that alienate voters – such as Project 2025.
She said it is likely voter mobilization among centrists and those less likely to vote – such as the 18-25-year-old age group – “could be decisive come November.”
“Strategy minded down-ticket Republicans should distance themselves from potentially alienating this mobilized voting population,” Bunch said.
Jess Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University and a long-term observer of Alabama state politics, said the focus on Project 2025 and IVF illustrate a nationalization of a congressional race and a lack of discussion on more local matters.
“They need some local and regional issues they can talk about,” Brown said. “What kind of federal bacon do they want to bring home to the respective counties down there and various institutions down there whether it’s universities, schools, agriculture or whatever.”
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