With the deadline for qualifying for Alabama’s newly drawn U.S. Congressional districts less than two weeks, it was bound to start getting interesting.

State Representative Napolean Bracy, Jr. D-Pritchard, the son of working-class parents who migrated to Mobile from Clarke County in the Black Belt, is joining what is likely to be a crowded field vying to represent U.S. Congressional District 2, he confirmed.

“We are taking this thing to Congress,” said Bracy, 46. “This district is made up of so many cities, communities, and neighborhoods just like the one I grew up in—places hurting with high poverty and crime rates, unemployment that just don’t have a lot of opportunities, some of it is because they’ve been overlooked. This gives us an opportunity to finally have a seat at the table and get the things we deserve.”

Bracy has served in the Alabama legislature for 13 years.

District 2 was created by a Special Master assigned by a federal court after the U.S. Supreme Court declared Alabama’s gerrymandered congressional districts racist and ordered them redrawn to provide the state’s Black voters with a second district with an “opportunity” to elect the candidate of their choice.

African Americans comprise almost 30 percent of the state’s population yet just one of the state’s seven congressional districts has a Black representative—Cong. Terri Sewell, who reps District 7. The voting-age population in the new District 2, whose map was drawn by a Special Master and confirmed by federal judges in September, is 47.6% Black-45% white.

Bracy, the married father of three daughters, said he will venture to Montgomery to qualify either Tuesday or Wednesday. Qualifying ends on November 10.

Several potential candidates have stated they are considering a run for District 2, though not yet confirmed their intent to do so. They include Shomari Figures, son of Alabama state Sen. Vivian Figures and former Department of Justice official; House Minority leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville; Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed; Jefferson County Commissioner Shiela Tyson; State Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Birmingham, who has registered a congressional committee with the Federal Election Commission; and state Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham.

Educational opportunities were few in Clarke County, Alabama for Napolean Bracy, Sr. and wife Ernestine Smith Bracy during the early part of the 20th century. To provide for their seven children, Bracy learned to upholster while working at Goodwill and ultimately launched Bracy’s Custom Upholstery while also serving as a pastor; Ernestine took nursing courses at Bishop State Community College in Mobile and worked as a home-based nurses aide. Both are deceased.

“The shoulders I stand on are theirs,” Bracy, Jr. says. “They demonstrated hard work and dedication. We survived.”

The son’s interest in politics began in seventh grade when he ran for parliamentarian. After attending public school in Mobile and graduating from Dillard University in New Orleans with majors in sociology and social welfare, Bracy, Jr. returned home in 2002 following the death of his father.

“That’s when I noticed that the neighborhood was going down,” he says, “things weren’t going as well as they should. Some of the older widows in the community came to me and asked me if I would consider running for city council.”

At the age of 26, he won a seat on the council and soon became council president before joining the legislature in 2010.

“Not a lot of bright stories come out of Pritchard,” he says. “It was pretty tough.”

Working in human resources at Mobile ship manufacturer Austal USA, Bracy says he tries to create more “bright stories” with a workforce development program called the Signature Academy, which allows Mobile area high school students to learn skills such as welding, electrical and body painting during a 12-week program working from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. during the week and receive a job with the company upon successful completion and graduation (or GED).

Bracy says Austal currently has 15 employees among 45 who were in the program. “The ones who didn’t end up working work for us, they did go work somewhere,” he says. “The academy gave them skills needed to do whatever it was that they wanted to do.”

In Congress, Bracy says he would strive elevate the district with a particular emphasis on education, workforce and economic development, and healthcare disparities caused by the closure of hospitals and medical facilities throughout the region.

“All areas that have plagued us for a long time,” he says. “Education is the key, of course, to ensure our schools are up to par. And economics. Some of the things I’ve worked on over the last 10 years, even outside of the legislature, are to create opportunities to break the poverty cycle in so many families.

“God made a way for me when the odds said I wouldn’t live past the age of 35,” he adds. “From that, I know it is my responsibility to make a way for others.”