The race in Alabama’s new 2nd Congressional District, which once had 21 candidates, is down to two finalists.

Shomari Figures, who worked for the Obama administration and in the U.S. Justice Department, has defeated Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels in a runoff for the Democratic nomination.

Caroleene Dobson, an attorney and first-time candidate, defeated Dick Brewbaker, a former state senator and longtime automobile dealer in Montgomery, in the Republican runoff.

The Associated Press declared Figures the winner at 8:46 p.m., and declared Dobson the GOP winner at 8:55 p.m.

Figures and Dobson will square off in the general election on Nov. 5.

In October, a federal court approved a new map that gives Democrats a chance to flip a Republican seat in the redrawn 2nd District. Figures would be the second Black lawmaker and second Democrat in Alabama’s seven-member delegation in Congress.

Figures is the former deputy chief of staff for Attorney General Merrick Garland. He moved back to his hometown in Mobile to run for the congressional seat. He is the son of state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures of Mobile and Michael Figures, who served 18 years in the Senate before his death in 1996.

Figures had led an 11-candidate field in the March 5 primary, while Daniels finished second.

Dobson grew up on a farm in Monroe County, which is in the 2nd District. She practiced law in Texas before returning to Alabama in 2019. She lives in Montgomery and is an attorney.

“Caroleene Dobson ran an amazing campaign, and we are proud to have her as the Republican nominee,” Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl said in a statement Tuesday night. “Congressional District 2 is one of the most important districts in the country and we are confident that she will do an amazing job representing the people of Alabama and the values they believe in.

“We need more elected officials who will help our communities succeed economically, protect our children from a socialist woke agenda, and defend the rights and freedoms of every individual. Caroleene Dobson will do just that. She is a woman of faith, commitment, and dedication who will work with everyone to help the people of District 2 have a brighter future.”

Brewbaker represented a Montgomery district in the Alabama Senate from 2010 to 2018 and kept a pledge to serve not to run for a third term. He owned and operated automobile dealerships in Montgomery for more than 35 years.

Daniels was elected to the Alabama House in 2014 and has been House Minority Leader since 2017.

The 2nd District had no incumbent. U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, who represents the district now, ran in the 1st District, where the new map placed his hometown. Moore defeated the incumbent, U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl of Mobile, in the March 5 Republican primary. Moore will face Democrat Tom Holmes in the general election in November.

The redrawn 2nd District is anchored by Montgomery and Mobile and includes all or parts of 13 counties from the Georgia line to the Mississippi line. It’s a major shift from the old map, which had the 2nd District extending from the Montgomery area across the Wiregrass of southeast Alabama.

The map changed because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the old map violated the Voting Rights Act because it packed Black voters into a single majority Black district, District 7.

An analysis submitted to the federal court that approved the new map showed that Democratic candidates received more votes than Republicans in the new district in 16 of 17 recent elections.

A Democratic flip would be important nationally because Republicans hold a narrow 218 to 213 majority in the current Congress. But although the district was drawn to favor Democrats, turnout in the March 5 primary indicated the race will be close. Almost exactly the same number of Republicans voted in the primary as Democrats.