On Tuesday, March 18, U.S. Congressman Shomari Figures stopped through Troy to speak with local government officials and stakeholders in the community. 

Figures is the 39-year-old Democratic U.S. House of Representative that now represents Pike County as a part of the redrawn Alabama’s 2nd District. Figures, a Mobile native, won 54.56 of the vote in the November election, edging out Republican nominee Caroleene Dobson. 

After the district was redrawn last year, by order from the U.S. Supreme Court, it now encompasses much of the Montgomery metropolitan area and Mobile along with Pike, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Conecuh, Crenshaw, Macon, Monroe, Russell and Washington Counties. It also includes portions of Clarke and Mobile Counties.

Figures made his stop in Troy fresh off a town hall event in Mobile the previous night and said it’s a stop he plans to make regularly.

“When we got elected, we made a commitment to go to every single county to make sure that we’re spending time talking to elected officials, local stakeholders and local constituents just to get an understanding of what’s going on in the community and how we can best impact the priorities here locally,” Figures told The Messenger. 

While Figures said the trip had previously been planned, he said it was also important to get to Pike County to assess the damage the recent tornado that blew through left.

“This trip was scheduled before the storm but the storm hit this weekend and I feel like it was particularly important to get down here,” he said. “I think Pike County was the worst affected in this district. So, we wanted to get down here and tell the mayor and the local government that we’re doing everything we can and to let us know how we can be helpful.” 

Figures said that the meetings with both elected officials and community members went well.

“They were very informative and they were very enlightening,” said Figures. “Every county we go to, I tell them they have forgotten more about this county than I will likely ever know. They know what the issues here are and what the priorities are and what works here and what doesn’t work. It’s imperative that we listen and we were able to do a lot of that today.”

Figures said that it was also imperative that local members, especially those that are concerned, are kept in the know with what’s going on around the country that could impact those in Pike County.

“We were also able to enlighten people a little bit about some of the things that are going on nationally and how it’s going to impact people here in Pike County,” Figures continued. “We’re able to answer some of their questions and, unfortunately given the circumstantiates of (the Donald Trump) administration and how they are acting, we don’t have a lot of answers in some respects. I think we just have to be real with people and let them know what the current state of affairs is in (Washington) D.C.” 

Figures said that local leaders in Pike County said that infrastructure was something that was a point of emphasis when speaking with him.

“In talking with the mayor, they have a lot of infrastructure projects around here that they want to make sure we can prioritize and we can try and make sure we’re making Pike County as safe as it can be and as productive as it can be in terms of its infrastructure,” Figures emphasized. “We need to make sure we’re supporting the defense industry that provides jobs around here, particularly Lockheed Martin right now is at the forefront of a lot of defense contract spending. They were a big supplier for weapons in the Ukraine conflict.” 

Figures said it was also extremely important to make sure the people of Pike County know that he is in Washington D.C. making an effort to ensure that cuts don’t come to some important programs for people in the county. 

“We’re just generally trying to make sure people here are comfortable with understanding with where we are in terms of protecting Medicaid and Social Security,” Figures said. “In Pike County, and this district as a whole, we are generally above the national average of people that receive those benefits, whether it be medicaid, social security, medicare or SNAP benefits. All of these things are at risk in this current administration.”

Figures said that there are a number of other items that he’s prioritizing in his first term. 

“The rural hospital issue is not one that has impacted Pike County the way it is in the majority of the rest of the district but that is at the top of our priority list,” he continued. “Making sure that we’re doing something to sustain the hospitals that we have across this district that haven’t closed and revive those that have closed. We’re also looking to expand Medicaid and working with the state to incentivize them to expand Medicaid. We’ve also already put forward legislation that would allow counties and cities to bypass the state’s obstruction and be able to access that funding directly.

“Infrastructure investments across this district, not just in Pike County, is also at the top of our list. The better infrastructure we have, the better local economies that we can sustain. Beyond that, we have to stick up for those programs that I mentioned earlier. Those are all disproportionally large pieces of what’s happening in this district and there are a lot of people that rely on those benefits and that income.”

Tax cuts are always a big topic of conversation in America and Figures said that it’s his priority to ensure that any tax cuts are sure to benefit the working class of Alabama.

“We want to work to legitimately prioritize every day working people in this district to lower the cost of living for them,” he flatly said. “In terms of tax policy, too much of it always focuses on big corporations and business owners. Obviously, business owners need the benefits of a tax system that works for them, but so do average, every day people that don’t get the benefit of the write offs that business owners and corporations get. How do we legitimately work to lower the cost of living through reforming our tax code to the benefit of every day people?”

Figures said that either Troy or Phenix City would likely be the location of his next town hall event, in the coming months.