With their districts redrawn and seats now no longer safe, U.S. Reps. Shomari Figures (D-Montgomery) and Terri Sewell (D-Hoover) bucked their Democrat colleagues and voted with House Republicans to prevent biological males from competing in women's sports, a stark contrast from how they voted a year ago on similar legislation.
On Tuesday, the two Alabama Democrats voted for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would block students born male from participating on girls' athletic teams at schools run by the Department of War (DOW). The amendment was adopted in an overall 221-203 vote, with all Republicans voting in favor.
The breakaway vote by Figures and Sewell from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is notably different from their opposition to the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act of 2025, which prohibited federally funded schools from permitting biological males to compete in girls' and women's sports.
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), which is targeting Figures' seat, said the Democrats' switch-up right before the midterm elections was an attempt to "hide their far-left views now that it's politically expedient."
"Out of touch Democrats Shomari Figures and Terri Sewell are desperately trying to hide their far-left views now that it's politically expedient, but it's too little too late," NRCC spokesman Reilly Richardson told Fox News Digital. "Alabamians know Figures and Sewell support Democrats' radical agenda of allowing men to compete in women's sports and will hold them accountable at the ballot box in November."
A special primary election on August 11 for Congressional Districts 1, 2, 6 and 7 was called by Gov. Kay Ivey following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that cleared the way for Alabama to use the congressional map developed by the Alabama Legislature in 2023 rather than a court-drawn map used in the 2024 elections.
Figures faces an uphill battle in his CD-2 race. State Rep. Rhett Marques (R-Enterprise), who holds an endorsement from President Donald Trump, is the heavy favorite to win the midterm election should he survive the Republican special primary against five other candidates.
"As I have said before, I do not believe that men should be allowed to participate in women's sports," Figures told Fox News Digital of his vote. "I voted against the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act because that bill would have created an open season for pedophiles to conduct sex checks of young girls, with no safeguards."
Sewell's seat is seemingly safer than Figures' given it was only slightly redrawn, but she will have to hold off the winner of Birmingham educator and entrepreneur Dr. Ammie Akin and David Perry in the Republican special primary.
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