Eighty-Four Votes This Summer. He Left His Party Exactly Twice.

At 9:46 p.m., Roll Call 267. Mace of South Carolina, Part A Amendment No. 19. Agreed to, 219 to 208. Republicans voted for it 213 to 1. Democrats voted against it 5 to 207. Two minutes later, at 9:48 p.m., Roll Call 268. Mace Part A Amendment No. 20. Agreed to, 221 to 203. Republicans, 215 to nothing. Democrats, 5 to 203. The same five Democrats voted yes both times: Cuellar of Texas, Davis of North Carolina, Gonzalez of Texas, Terri Sewell of Alabama — and Shomari Figures. Hakeem Jeffries and the whole of Democratic leadership voted no. The subject, according to the reporting: barring biological males from women's athletics in Defense Department schools. The tallies and the two yes votes come straight from the House Clerk's own record. The subject matter comes from the press coverage.

Wall of Shame — Today: Balch & Bingham

Today on the Wall of Shame: the Balch & Bingham PAC (Birmingham) has put $2,500 into Rep. Shomari Figures' campaign account. A major Alabama law and lobbying firm — the same access play. The Wall of Shame exists for one reason — so that total stops growing. https://take2back.com/wall-of-shame.html

EIGHTY-FOUR VOTES. TWO BREAKS.

We did not sample his record. We pulled all of it.

Roll Call 200 through Roll Call 283 — eighty-four recorded votes between June 3 and July 23, downloaded from the House Clerk.

In eighty-four votes, Shomari Figures broke with his party exactly twice.

Both on July 21. Both after a quarter to ten at night. Both on the same subject. Both written by the same Republican.

Everything else — all eighty-two of them — he voted with his caucus.

WHAT HE SAID IN JANUARY 2025, IN HIS OWN WORDS

Here is the part that cuts against us, and we would rather print it ourselves than have somebody print it at us.

On January 14, 2025, the House passed the Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act, 218 to 206. Figures voted no. He issued a statement the same day explaining why, and it is still posted on his congressional website. He argued that Alabama law and Alabama's athletic governing bodies already prohibit it, that no male athlete in the state's history has ever attempted to play on a girls' team, and that he would not vote for a bill with no safeguards against unwanted sex checks on young girls.

Asked about the reversal two weeks ago, he told Fox News his position has never changed, and pointed to a 2025 amendment vote he says he supported. The specific measure was not identified in the reporting.

So take him at his word. Say his view has been the same the whole time.

Then the question is not what he believes. The question is what changed.

WHAT CHANGED

Three things, in order.

June 2, 2026 — the Supreme Court allowed Alabama to use its 2023 congressional map. Alabama's Second District stopped being a seat drawn to elect him and became a seat that voted for Donald Trump by fourteen points.

The week of July 13 — the National Republican Congressional Committee added Shomari Figures to its target list.

July 21, 9:46 and 9:48 p.m. — the only two votes all summer on which he left his party.

We are not going to tell you what was in the man's head. We do not know. We will give you the sequence and let you draw your own conclusion: the map changed, the target list came out, and then the votes came.

A vote in 2026 does not erase a vote in 2025. Both are on the record, and the record is the only thing that follows a congressman into November.

THE RECORD IS NOW CLOSED

He will not cast another vote before August 11.

The House is in a district work period and the last recorded vote is Roll Call 283, taken July 23. Whatever Shomari Figures's record in this Congress was going to be, it already is. It does not grow, it does not shrink, and it does not change because the news is quiet in August.

Eighty-four votes this summer. Two breaks with his party, ninety seconds apart. The rest of it, straight down the line.

One correction of our own, since we are keeping score in public. On Saturday we told you his record is documented vote by vote in the archive on this site. The voting-record page has not been updated since early June and does not yet carry any of this. We are rebuilding it now from the Clerk's own file. Better to say it than to be caught at it.

EIGHT DAYS — AND THE LAST DOOR CLOSES TOMORROW

Eight days from today, Republicans in Alabama's Second District pick a nominee. There is no runoff. Whoever finishes first is the nominee, and turnout across the district is expected to come in under thirty thousand.

The absentee door closes first, and it closes tomorrow.

If you are voting absentee by mail, your application must be RECEIVED in your county Absentee Election Manager's office on Tuesday, August 4. Received — not postmarked, not dropped in a mailbox that morning.

To hand-deliver an absentee application: Thursday, August 6.

Hand-returned ballots: by 5 p.m. Monday, August 10.

Mailed ballots: must arrive by noon on election day, Tuesday, August 11.

Voter registration closed on July 27. The absentee application window is the last deadline in this election that has not already passed.

EIGHT DAYS. UNDER THIRTY THOUSAND VOTES. NO SECOND CHANCES.

Eighty-four votes. He left his party twice, and both times were the same ninety seconds, three weeks before a primary he is not even in.

Eight days to pick someone to put in front of that record in November.

Show up on the eleventh.