On her way to the Montgomery headquarters of the Alabama Democratic Party Friday afternoon to qualify for the race to represent newly drawn District 2 in the U.S. Congress, state Sen. Merika Coleman drove by the statue of Rosa Parks, then lingered along Dexter Avenue past the church once led by a young Rev. Martin Luther King.

“Just basking in the history of Montgomery,” she later said, “just thinking about the things they fought for, thinking about my mom, who was one of those high-school kids in Birmingham who marched the streets of Birmingham protesting segregation.

“I stand on the shoulders of those folks,” she added. “I only have the ability to serve in the legislature now and then ultimately in Congress because of the work those folks did for equality. Nobody was asking Black folks to be treated better, just equal. I continue to fight for justice and equality.”

Coleman, who has served in the Alabama state legislature for more than two decades—in the House of Representatives before being elected to the upper chamber in 2022—is among a staggering 15 Democrats who qualified before the 5 p.m. Friday deadline.

The primary is March 5, 2024.

“The more the merrier,” she said. “There are a lot of people running who are my friends and we’re going to be friends after the race. It’ll be up to the constituents to decide who they feel will best represent them in Washington, D.C. and you just can’t get mad about that.”

With the issue of district residency already among the darts thrown about between the bounty of hopefuls—many of whom, like Coleman, live outside the lines of the prodigious district—the legislator drew upon her nomadic military past.

“I actually was born in England and spent part of high school in England as well,” Coleman said. “One thing you learn when you are in a military family is that you bloom where you are planted. Every place I’ve lived is home, and I not only bloomed, I thrived. The current digital district I represent now, I wasn’t indigenous to, but most people would never know that because I have fought the good fight for Senate District 19 and previously House District 57, provided millions of dollars of resources for the district and consider the district family.”

Coleman said she’s moving into a loft in Montgomery.

“I’m gonna bloom where I’m planted, and God willing will be planted and congressional District Two.”

Recently, Coleman said she watched Rep. Terri Sewell—who is running for re-election in District 7 against sole opponent Chris Davis—announce having secured $4 million in federal money to combat blighted properties in Montgomery.

“! bet not one person who is going to benefit from that four million is gonna care that Congresswoman Sewell lives in Jefferson County and not in Montgomery County,” Coleman said.

Like almost all of the candidates vying for the congressional seat, Coleman is driven by the possibility of bringing voice to the most impoverished long-overlooked residents in the district, which has been represented by Republicans for all but one term since 1965.

“What an awesome gift to have the opportunity to fight for the least of these in Washington, D.C..” she said. “As a single mother who raised my children with the help and support of my father as a disabled vet, one of the deciding moments for me, came after I received phone calls from folks from D.C. and other places around the country, saying ‘Hey, are you ready?’

“My daughter asked me if I’d made up my mind, then said, ‘Mom, if it’s not you then who?’ That was a lot. That gave me just that final boost to fight for the collective issues we all care about.”