U.S. Representative Shomari Figures, D-Alabama, on Thursday called for three potential debates with Republican challenger Rhett Marques.
The 2nd Congressional District incumbent announced that he has accepted three debate invitations from AL.com, the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce and the Christian Coalition for Alabama.
Figures said in a written statement Thursday that he is open to any chance to debate Marques, challenging the former state representative to use the opportunity to explain his policies on affordability for agricultural workers and everyday Alabamians.
“Let me be crystal clear: I will debate Rhett Marques anytime, any place,” Figures said. “Voters in Alabama’s Second District deserve to hear directly from us on how we’ll tackle the affordability crisis hammering farmers, small business owners, and working families across our communities.”
Figures also took aim at Marques’ record on taxation during his time as a state lawmaker.
“People deserve to know why Rhett Marques raised the gas tax 67 percent and raised taxes for Alabama families 22 times,” Figures said.
During Marques’ tenure in the Alabama House of Representatives, he voted to gradually increase the gas tax by 10 cents through the Rebuild Alabama Act, legislation to fund road and bridge projects across the state.
The act, which includes a provision to automatically add 1 cent to the gas tax each year based on an index of highway construction costs, passed the House with bipartisan support in an 83-20 vote. The provision has been used twice since the law’s enactment, raising the gas tax to 12 cents a gallon.
The Figures campaign has criticized the vote as worsening affordability for Alabamians amid record-high diesel prices and gas prices topping $4 a gallon.
Figures has condemned Marques’ broader voting record on taxes, as did former Republican contenders for the 2nd Congressional District nomination David Matthews and Joshua McKee during a July forum held by the Republican Women of Coffee County.
“I committed to these debates because I have never run from tough questions and I believe we owe it to our communities to stand before them and say how we will represent them,” Figures said. “If you refuse to stand before voters before an election, then you certainly won’t do it once you’re in office.”
In a written statement received Thursday, Marques told APR that he has no intention of participating in debates with Figures.
“If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: the choice in this race is craziness versus common sense,” Marques said. “I’m simply not going to give a platform to someone who wants to hand control of Congress to anti-American socialists like AOC.”
Marques condemned Figures’ vote against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he described as a vote “to spend Alabamians’ Medicaid dollars on illegal immigrants” and to raise taxes.
At the time, Figures described the bill as “nothing more than a handout for the rich.” Figures has also remained critical of the bill’s funding cuts and changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“[Figures] is part of a Democratic Party that has moved further and further toward socialism, with the mission of emptying the prisons, giving total control of your healthcare to government bureaucrats, and allowing illegal immigrants to vote,” Marques said. “I’m on the opposite side of every one of those issues. My record of cutting taxes, keeping boys out of girls’ sports, and standing with our military and law enforcement speaks for itself. We don’t need a debate to show that.”
Figures, who in January 2025 voted against Republican-led legislation to define sex in athletics solely by an individual’s sex at birth, said his opposition to the bill was based on its potential to allow states to perform sex checks on young girls and women in athletics.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I do not believe that biological males should be allowed to compete against biological females in sports,” Figures said at the time. “Alabama state law and our athletic governing bodies already prohibit this. And in the entire history of the State of Alabama, there has never been a male athlete to attempt to play on a female sports team.”
“I do not believe Congress should pass a law with no parameters or safeguards to prevent states from authorizing people to perform unwanted sex checks on young girls and women. If Republicans adequately fix that issue, they should bring it back to the table,” Figures added.
The Figures campaign’s call for a debate follows jabs exchanged between Figures and Marques after Marques attacked the incumbent during President Donald Trump’s rally in Mobile last week.
During his comments, Marques argued that “a vote for Shomari Figures is a vote for the far-left wing of their party.”
The Marques campaign on Wednesday called on Figures to return campaign donations from a political action committee linked to former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-California.
Nancy Pelosi for Congress contributed $4,000 to Figures’ 2024 campaign and $2,000 for his reelection bid. PAC To the Future, a leadership PAC founded by Pelosi and chaired by her husband, contributed $5,000 to Figures in 2024 and $10,000 for his 2026 campaign.
