Shomari Figures compares the “sex change” argument to Allen Iverson’s “exercise” rant in the Dobsonian debate

Democratic District 2 candidate Shomari Figures invoked a famous retired basketball player’s rant about training during a televised debate Thursday night and suggested that political issues affecting transgender people were a red herring in the race.

“You know, Hall of Fame basketball player Allen Iverson once did an interview where he kept saying, ‘We’re talking about training,'” Figures said during the debate with Republican hopeful Caroleene Dobson, co-hosted by Fox 10 and The Mobile Chamber of Commerce, which also aired on WSFA in Montgomery.

Iverson’s iconic rant came as reporters blamed the star’s dislike of training for his team’s disappointing exit in the 2002 NBA playoffs. The Hall of Fame combo guard said his lack of practice was irrelevant to the team’s performance.

Numbers said he saw parallels in Iverson and Caroleene Dobson’s insistence on associating the Democratic candidate with a “far-left D.C. ideology” that includes gender-affirming care, conveying that there are more important issues in the redrawn district.

“And every time we go back to gender reassignment, I feel like that. That we’re talking about gender reassignment,” Figures said.

“We have closed hospitals in this district and are talking about gender reassignment surgery. We live this [shortest] lives in America and we talk about sex changes all the time. We have the highest maternal mortality rates in most of the country and we talk about gender reassignment all the time – topics that don’t concern people here.”

Dobson alleged that Figures was responsible for the policies of the Justice Department, where Figures served as deputy chief of staff and counsel to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland before running for Congress, including challenging Alabama’s law banning gender-specific care of minors .

“I’m not talking about sex changes,” Dobson said, “I’m talking about procedures that mutilate and sterilize our children.” And it’s true – we shouldn’t be talking about sex changes because Alabama has a law that protects our children from these dangerous procedures for which there is no scientific basis for benefit.

“And yet my opponent and his Justice Department have sued Alabama to overturn these laws that protect our children. They are prioritizing their far-left DC insider ideology over the safety of our children.”

According to the figures, he was not involved in transgender issues while working at the Justice Department.

“I have worked on many things throughout my career. I’ve worked to protect the border, I’ve worked to provide resources to stop fentanyl, I’ve worked to provide health care, I’ve worked to make…communities safer. But I can assure you one thing: I have never worked on gender reassignment,” he said.

“And at the end of the day, with all of the important issues we face in this district, the fact that we spend valuable time consistently talking to voters about gender transition is, I think, emblematic of the nature of it Representation we would have “Washington, DC”

The congressional contest is considered the most competitive of Alabama’s high-profile races during the Nov. 5 general election.

The redistricting came after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 decision in Allen v. Milligan agreed with a lower court’s ruling that Alabama should have at least one additional congressional district in which black voters were or were close to a majority.

The state’s only Black member of Congress is U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell of Birmingham, who represents the 7th District. About 27% of Alabama residents are Black, according to census data from last year.