Republican Caroleene Dobson and Democrat Shomari Figures squared off in a one-hour debate hosted by AL.com today, with their closely watched election in Alabama’s redrawn 2nd Congressional District less than four weeks away.

Dobson and Figures answered questions about the economy, immigration, abortion, healthcare, gun violence, and other topics.

Dobson tried to characterize Figures as a Washington insider who has supported Biden administration policies that have led to inflation and out-of-control illegal immigration.

“My opponent argues that that he should be elected because he understands how Washington works,” Dobson said. “Well, the truth is, Washington hasn’t been working for Alabama families. I want to ask those of you watching a few questions. Do you find that it costs twice as much to fill your grocery cart half as full? Do you find it harder to buy or sell your house? Has your rent increased? Do you find that your paycheck is so much smaller while your bills are so much larger? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you shouldn’t vote for my opponent, because he helped put in place policies that have made our dollars go less and made our expenses more.”

Figures tried to portray Dobson as being wealthy and out of touch with problems faced by people in the district, such as limited access to medical care, closing rural hospitals, and Alabama’s poor ranking in health outcomes such as life expectancy. Figures said Republican control of the governor’s office, Legislature, and other state offices has not served Alabamians well.

“The realities of it are this state of Alabama has been under Republican leadership at almost every single level for the last two decades, and in that two decades, here’s what we got,“ Figures said. ”We got the worst life expectancy for all intents and purposes in the United States of America, fueled in large part by Republicans refusal to expand Medicaid and provide basic health care coverage for people to be able to be able to go to a doctor here in the state of Alabama, especially in our rural communities.“

The debate was sponsored by AARP, which has a proud 34-year history of non-partisan voter engagement and providing voters with information on where the candidates stand on issues important to its members and their families so they can make their own decisions on Election Day.

The race carries high stakes. A federal court redrew the district last year to give Black voters a chance to elect a candidate of their choice after ruling that Alabama’s congressional map likely violated the Voting Rights Act by packing Black voters into a single majority Black district. The stakes are high. Democrats could flip the GOP-held seat and elect a second Black member in Alabama’s seven-member Congressional delegation and potentially affect control of Congress next year.

The district includes Montgomery and most of Mobile and takes in all or part of 13 counties from the Georgia line to the Mississippi line.

The one-hour debate was moderated by AL.com’s Ivana Hrynkiw. Candidates were given debate topics before Thursday but not specific questions.

AL.com fact-checked the candidates’ answers in the online comment sections of AL.com’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.

Thursday’s debate was the second in the race. They squared off last week in a debate hosted by WSFA-12 in Montgomery.

Both Dobson and Figures are first-time candidates. Dobson is a real estate attorney from Montgomery, joining Maynard Nexsen in 2019. Before then, she worked and lived in Texas, practicing law in San Antonio. Dobson grew up on her family’s cattle farm in Monroe County in the south part of the redrawn district. Dobson is a Harvard graduate and has a law degree from Baylor University Law School.

Figures, before entering the congressional race, was deputy chief of staff and counselor to Attorney general Merrick Garland in the Department of Justice. He also worked in the Obama Administration and served as a White House Liaison at the Department of Justice. Figures grew up in Mobile. Figures is a graduate of the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama School of Law.

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This story will be updated.