General
This is an opinion column.
Their two children were safely in bed Tuesday night. Like much of America, Evan Milligan and wife, Jennifer, began checking election returns — for the U.S. presidential race, to be sure.
And for an Alabama battle Milligan helped launch three years ago when he agreed to serve as the face of a case that would find its way to the highest court in the land, yield a stunning decision from the conservative court, and reshape the representation of Democrats and African Americans in Alabama and the U.S. Congress.
The news came in a text message: Democrat Shomari Figures, a 39-year-old former aide in the Justice Department under Barack Obama and Joe Biden,had defeated Republican Caroleen Dobson by nine percentage points to win Alabama’s new congressional district, which was redrawn by order of the U.S. Supreme Court. Redrawn to counter the gerrymandering that for too long left the district’s Black residents, many of whom live in the impoverished Black Belt, feeling detached and dismissed, more distant from the nation’s capital than miles can measure.
Now Figures, the African American son of Alabama state Sen. Vivian Figures and the late civil rights attorney and state Sen. Michael Figures, is their advocate, their voice — their hope in Washington, D.C. He is them.
If ground zero for Figures’ victory was a person: It would be Milligan, the Alabama son of a social justice advocate.
“For anybody who does feel dispirited about the outcome of the national election, take another look at Alabama,” Milligan told me. “Take another look at congressional district two. We would love to have y’all right here with us and building. If there’s anything that was inspiring about what was accomplished here, imagine what could happen if more of those people brought their energy here, as opposed to just feeling hopeless and deflated. We don’t have time for that right now.”
On Tuesday evening, Milligan read the text message and smiled. Smiled and savored not just the triumph, but the journey as well, and the myriad collaborators who shared the long path with him.
In June of 2025, the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court stunningly ruled that Alabama had diluted Black voting power in violation of the U.S. Constitution in its drawing of congressional districts. The 5-4 decision — conservatives Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal justices — fortified provisions of the Voting Rights of 1965, which has long been under attack in this state.
“Prior to that I was skeptical,” Milligan said. “But once the decision came down, I was confident it would lead to an outcome that was affirming for our communities.”
More than one in four Alabamians is African American (26.3%), a group that historically votes heavily Democratic. Yet Figures’ win gives the state only its second Democrat and second African American among seven congressional representatives; Until now, Rep. Terri Sewell, who’s served in Congress since 2011, was Alabama’s only Democrat and African American representative.
“Of course, it is significant,” said former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones. “Blacks in Alabama are incredibly underrepresented at the federal and state level: There’s our House delegation, then zero out of all statewide constitutional officers and only 1 out of 19 appellate judges elected statewide. Adding Figures to the House delegation at least gives an additional voice to unrepresented citizens who more and more are feeling disenfranchised.”
I reached Figures in Mobile, his hometown, on Thursday. “We got into it not to win the race, but to do the work,” he said. “What’s humbling about the experience is that when it all boils down to it, when it’s time to get to work, knowing that you are the person people trusted to go do that work on behalf of them, it’s a good, good feeling, man.”
Two men and a cause
Milligan did not know Figures when the legacy figure of Alabama politics entered the race. He knew of Figures’ lineage. Knew vaguely that his father bankrupted the Ku Klux Klan in this state. Milligan knew the Figures patriarch died when his son was young (Shomari was 11). Knew of his mother’s work in the wake of her husband’s death on behalf of the citizens they stood in the gap for.
“I have long admired his dad’s legacy in the New South Coalition and his mom’s support for childcare,” Milligan said.
A mutual friend who attended NYU Law School with Milligan attempted to connect the two men by text months before Figures announced his candidacy. “This friend is highly selective with her co-signs, so that stood out to me,” Milligan said.
He was buried beneath an avalanche of case and court matters and “life stuff” so Milligan never followed up. The two men crossed paths during the campaign.
“I was surprised by his down-to-earth spirit,” Milligan said. “He’s comfortable in his own skin and is easy to laugh with. Once my family met his family, we saw that his wife and children have that same appeal, so it felt even more authentic. Even one of the folks who ran against him in the primary spoke solid of him long before he stood to gain anything by doing so. I tend to remember little things like that.”
Of Milligan, Figures says: “Look, I say thank you to him and Shalela Dowdy and Sen. Bobby Singleton and Khadidah Stone and Letetia Jackson, all of the plaintiffs in this case. They put themselves out there to fight for equal rights, furthering the legacy of this state in the realm of voting rights.
“As Dr. [Martin Luther] King always said: Making America be true to what it said on paper. I owe them an enormous debt of gratitude, as I do to the attorneys who worked on this case. Look, we think [the U.S. Supreme Court] made the right decision, but I wouldn’t be here without people.”
Family Matters
Mama needed a nap. Sen. Vivian Figures called me back Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours after her son’s triumph, a day after she stood staring at the big screen at the watch party inside the historic Battle House hotel in Mobile and saw Shomari declared the winner.
“We just, just shouted for joy,” she said. “Then, of course, I found him. He was just a few steps away. I wanted to get that victory hug. It was just a feeling of joy and to know that it was formally, yes, it was real.”
Mama, being Mama, of course, said she long believed her son was “chosen to do this for such a time as this. I knew when he decided to run that he would be victorious. I just felt that in my heart.”
She spoke of her race for a seat on the Mobile City Council in 1993 and of her husband who by then was a long-time state senator. “We ran to be a voice for the voiceless,” she said, “that’s who we were.”
Then she spoke of her son: “It means so very much for people to have a voice. That’s what the legacy is about, to be that voice for the voiceless.
“When people end up with representation, knowing that they are really sincere about serving them and listening to them, listening to their problems when they have for so long been ignored or pushed aside or given the runaround, it just means the world for them to know that they have somebody who they can talk to, who they can trust, and who they believe really will do everything they possibly can to help them with their issues. It means the world.”
So, we’re clear now, don’t call this a passing of the family baton. Though she has served in the Alabama legislature since filling her late husband’s seat in 1997, Sen. Figures isn’t closing the door to service. Perhaps even in another capacity. Perhaps as mayor of Mobile. In September, current Mayor Sandy Stimpson said he would not seek re-election.
“There are a lot of people now who want me to run and I’m giving great consideration,” she said. “I’m a woman of deep faith, so I don’t take those decisions lightly. It’s humbling, very humbling when people want you to run.”
Generational game changer
It’s still not yet certain which party will win the majority in Congress. Alabama’s flipped District 2 seat in the House may be critical to the math in determining whether Republicans will control the White House and both branches of Congress.
Milligan sees Figures’ victory as equally pivotal at home — maybe more so. Pivotal in potentially inspiring a new generation of young African Americans to aspire toward public service. He’s a 2003 graduate of Mobile’s LeFlore Magnet High School.
“They’re not used to seeing candidates who attended high school during this century,” Milligan said. “That’s definitely what Shomari brought to the table, and I think that certainly spoke to a lot of young Black people in our communities. It just spoke to people who have spent most of their lifetime in the 21st century.”
Not that they’ll fall in lock-step simply because Figures is young, Black and proud of his path.
“Us being Black and being with one party or another, yeah, there are some people who will respond to that, but Black voters are very discerning,” Milligan told me. “There are very, very complicated things for Black voters in Alabama’s urban communities that are much deeper than race and gender and what’s this person’s family name.
“So, whoever aspires to have their respect — hopefully we get to a point where we see some of the best public servants in the country, if not the world, coming out of our congressional districts, city council districts, county commission districts. I would love that to be the brand that Alabama has for the world.”
I was raised by good people who encouraged me to be a good man and surround myself with good people. If I did, they said, good things would happen. I am a member of the National Association of Black Journalists’ Hall of Fame, an Edward R. Murrow Award winner, and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for commentary. My column appears on AL.com, and digital editions of The Birmingham News, Huntsville Times, and Mobile Press-Register. Tell me what you think at [email protected], and follow me at twitter.com/roysj, or on Instagram @roysj.
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