Republicans battle in District 2 runoff
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MOBILE, Ala. (WKRG) — Next Tuesday’s Runoff Election in the newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District features two Montgomery residents: Dick Brewbaker and Caroleene Dobson.
Dick Brewbaker is a business owner and former state representative and state senator, and Caroleene Dobson is an attorney, who grew up on a farm in Beatrice.
Brewbaker secured 39% of the vote in last month’s primary.
Dobson captured 26% of the vote and made the runoff by less than 600 votes, but thinks she can make up the difference.
“I’m a fighter,” she said. “I have spent day in and day out (campaigning) in this district.”
Dobson won only one county in March – Monroe – where she grew up. Greg Albritton won the other counties in the WKRG-TV viewing area.
Brewbaker thinks he’ll do better in South Alabama this time around.
“I’ve been spending a lot of time in Mobile the last couple of weeks, that’s for sure,” said Brewbaker. “I did relatively better in the River region, Montgomery, PIke, Crenshaw, that area because that’s where I represented in the Legislature and they knew me and knew my record.”
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The candidates are very similar on the issues. Locally, they emphasize infrastructure and improving Mobile’s port. Nationally, they want to close the border. Internationally, they fully back Israel in its war with Hamas.
“It’s our moral responsibility to support Israel,” Dobson said “We need to trust that Israel is the Godly nation that it is. When standing with Israel we don’t need to be calling for their leaders to change. We don’t need to be threatening them if they invade. We need to trust that Israel is the Goldy nation that it is.”
“Israel, like the United States, has an absolute right to defend itself,” Brewbaker said. “An absolute right. The people who live in Gaza have protected, supported, and allowed Hamas to put weapons in their hospitals and dig tunnels under their towns, and this is the result.”
The candidates are far less enthusiastic about supporting Ukraine against Russia.
“The NATO allies that we’re protecting need to do their share when it comes to supporting Ukraine militarily,” Brewbaker said. “It can’t all be on the American taxpayer.
“We have to secure our border before we secure the Ukrainian border,” said Dobson.
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Needing to make up a significant vote gap from the primary, Dobson has gone on the attack in the runoff, with ads that label Brewbaker as a “tax-raising, Trump hater.”
“My opponent has voted to increase taxes,” Dobson told News 5. “And he’s openly criticized President Trump.”
Brewbaker says both claims are false.
“Right after he got elected, President Trump proposed a tariff that would have raised the price of every airplane Airbus built, $10 million, making them totally uncompetitive with Boeing,” Brewbaker explained.
He added, “And it wouldn’t just have hurt Airbus, but Mercedes and Hyundai and every transplant manufacturer we have in Alabama. I was just trying to protect the manufacturers in my district. Thankfully, President Trump listened and he changed his proposal.”
Brewbaker says Dobson’s claims about taxes are also misleading.
“(It is) about me wanting to put tax increases on the ballot so people could vote on them,” Brewbaker said. “My personal belief is that legislators, by themselves, should not be able to raise taxes.”
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The new District 2 was created by the courts to give African Americans the chance to elect another congressman in Alabama. But while at a numerical disadvantage, both Dobson and Brewbaker say they, and only they, can win in November, but for different reasons.
“This seat is winnable by a Republican if it’s a Republican who is a strong conservative,” said Dobson.
“Every race I’ve run, the moderates and independents in the River region have always trended and voted for me,” said Brewbaker. “A Republican can win this district, provided it is the right kind of Republican candidate. And that’s me.”
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