Caroleene Dobson, an attorney from Montgomery, is the first Republican to enter the race for Congress in Alabama’s redrawn 2nd District.
Dobson announced her candidacy Wednesday and has qualified with the Alabama Republican Party.
Dobson was raised on her family’s farm in Beatrice, according to a press release from her campaign. Dobson said her family’s agricultural heritage, her commitment to preserving traditional values and property rights, and a desire to raise her children in a conservative nation drove her decision to enter the race.
“As a member of Congress, I will fight for our families, our farms, and our faith and preserve the bedrock values and moral backbone that have made our nation the greatest ever known,” Dobson said. “It is time to give Washington, D.C. a good dose of Alabama common sense and go to battle against those on the far left who want to control how we use our property and what we do, think, and say.”
Dobson said she grew up working on her family’s cattle farm and competed in the National High School Finals Rodeo as a teen.
Dobson earned a degree in history and literature from Harvard College where she was a member of the Harvard Republican Club, according to her campaign. She earned her law degree from the Baylor University Law School.
Dobson practices real estate law with the Maynard Nexsen firm in Birmingham. Dobson is a member of the Alabama Forestry Commission, is active in the Birmingham chapter of the Federalist Society, and serves on the board of the Southeastern Livestock Exposition, which has sponsored Montgomery’s annual rodeo competition since 1958.
Dobson and her husband Bobby have two daughters, Philippa and Lydia.
Three candidates have said they would run for the Democratic nomination in District 2. They are Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, Rep. Napoleon Bracy, D-Prichard, and Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson.
Others who have said they are considering the race include Sen. Merika Coleman, D-Fairfield, House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, and Shomari Figures, son of state Sen. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile, and a former Department of Justice official.
Coleman, Daniels, and Givan do not live in District 2. But the law does not require U.S. House members to live in their districts. The U.S. Constitution only requires that a member of the U.S. House live in the state that he or she is elected to serve.
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed has also said he is considering a run for the seat. But Reed, Montgomery’s first Black mayor who was just elected to a second term in August, has decided against a run, according to Hatcher, a longtime friend. Reed declined to comment about the race on Tuesday.
U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, has represented District 2 for two terms. But the new map approved by a three-judge federal court moved Moore’s hometown into District 1. Moore announced Monday he was running in District 1, challenging the incumbent there, U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile.
The new district 2 spans the state from east to west and includes all of Montgomery County and a northern portion of Mobile County. It has a voting age population that is 49% Black. An analysis performed as part of the lawsuit that resulted in the new map being drawn showed that Black-preferred candidates, Democrats, received more votes in the district than their Republican opponents in 16 of 17 recent elections.
Qualifying for Republican and Democratic candidates ends on Nov. 10. The primary is March 5.
