Shomari Figures's Record on AI

Shomari Figures's Position on AI

Shomari Figures formally supports a moratorium on construction and upgrades of covered AI data centers, and his support appears in the bill record as a cosponsorship. The bill title uses the word moratorium, but the operative text sets a conditional pause with no fixed end date.

The official status record lists him as a cosponsor dated July 22, 2026. He is not an original cosponsor, and the record shows no enactment.

His House votes also support business use of AI and a restriction on harmful imagery. He voted yea on the AI for Main Street Act on January 20, 2026, and on the TAKE IT DOWN Act on April 28, 2025. The TAKE IT DOWN Act is a law on nonconsensual intimate images that covers some AI-made forgeries.

Together these records describe a mixed position. They do not establish opposition to every form or use of AI.

Background at a Glance

Shomari Figures was born September 3, 1985, in Mobile, Alabama, and was 41 years old on November 4, 2026.

Background and Political Leaning

According to his official House biography, Figures grew up in Mobile, Alabama, where his parents, Michael and Vivian Figures, served as state legislators. The same biography names LeFlore High and the University of Alabama, where he earned undergraduate and law degrees.

The Congressional Directory gives his degrees as a B.A. in criminal justice from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, awarded in 2006, and a J.D. from the same university, awarded in 2010.

The Directory lists staff work at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in 2011 and 2012, and campaign staff for Barack Obama's 2012 presidential campaign. It also lists White House Office of Presidential Personnel staff in 2014 and 2015, U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown's staff from 2017 to 2020, and Justice Department staff in 2015 to 2017 and again in 2021 to 2023.

His biography also lists a Justice Department liaison role and deputy chief of staff and counselor roles with Merrick Garland. The records reviewed list his current office as U.S. Representative for Alabama's 2nd district.

The records do not say how these roles shaped his AI positions, so this profile does not draw that connection. No finer ideological label is assigned in the records reviewed, and the Democratic Party affiliation alone does not establish one.

Statements and Actions on AI

Among his personal actions, the House website lists a fiscal year 2027 community project funding request for Alabama State University.

The request is for $4 million for the university's Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence Research and Innovation. The listing describes the center's work as AI research, workforce training and computing partnerships.

A funding request is not an award, an appropriation or a delivered project. The page carries no publication date, so this profile gives none.

The records reviewed contain no direct quotation from Figures on AI. This profile therefore reports his AI actions as actions, not as his words.

Policies Supported and Opposed

Figures's AI record in the reviewed materials includes three federal measures and one funding request, and only the TAKE IT DOWN Act is enacted. Among the votes and bill roles reviewed, none is a nay vote or a stated opposition position.

H.R. 9442 targets construction and upgrades of covered AI data centers. Its covered data-center definition includes facilities used for AI models at scale, along with an alternative branch for facilities over 20 MW with high-density rack power of at least 20 kW or liquid or immersion cooling. The bill does not automatically cover every server facility.

The pause would take effect on enactment and would end only after laws establish product review, worker and benefit-sharing protections, utility and environmental protections, community approval, no subsidies and union labor standards, and the pause is expressly terminated. The bill sets no fixed one-year expiry.

The bill would also require quarterly public Energy Department reports on financing, water, power, emissions, wastewater, cooling chemicals, noise, jobs, agreements and subsidies. Verification powers would include inspections and subpoenas, and it would restrict exports, reexports and in-country transfers for covered AI uses to entities in countries without comparable safeguards.

H.R. 5764 would have small business development centers help businesses evaluate and use AI, with guidance, training and outreach on operations, data and intellectual property, cybersecurity and regulatory compliance. Section 3 authorizes no additional funding. The House passed the bill 395 to 14 on January 20, 2026, and the Senate received it and referred it to the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship on January 26, 2026.

S. 146 is the only measure in this table that became law. The House passed it 409 to 2 on April 28, 2025, and it became Public Law 119-12 on May 19, 2025. Its Senate passage on February 13, 2025 was by unanimous consent, so no individual Senate roll call exists for it.

The enacted law covers knowing publication of nonconsensual intimate depictions, including specified digital forgeries made with AI or other software, subject to the law's conditions and exceptions. Covered platforms must provide a notice and removal process within one year of enactment and remove covered depictions within 48 hours of a valid request. The law targets specific harmful uses and does not ban AI or synthetic media.

Current Office and the 2026 Election

The Congressional Directory lists Shomari Figures as U.S. Representative for Alabama's 2nd district, and the Associated Press called his reelection in that district on November 4, 2026. The office he sought is the same House seat, Alabama's 2nd district.

The AP report is a race call, and a race call is not a certification. The records reviewed contain no certification record, which leaves certification unconfirmed rather than showing that Alabama has not certified the result.

The Directory is dated February 20, 2026, before the November election, so it cannot confirm the result. The records reviewed also contain no 2026 primary result, so this profile makes no claim about one.

Scope and Open Questions

The records reviewed contain no personal speech on AI, no finer ideological label and no vote against an AI measure. Support for H.R. 9442 is formal, but the records do not show whether he would back any particular amendment or later version of that bill.

Each vote is a whole-bill roll call, and the records give no reason for any vote. A yea on the AI for Main Street Act supports that bill as a whole, and it does not isolate one provision.

Several points remain open. The status record dates the referral of H.R. 9442 to June 24, 2026, while listing his cosponsorship on July 22, 2026, and the file does not explain that sequence. The records reviewed also contain no 119th Congress committee assignments.

To check whether H.R. 9442 has moved since its referral, open its official status record and compare the latest action with the dates above. To confirm the two House votes, open the Clerk's roll call pages for 2026 Roll 33 and 2025 Roll 104.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Shomari Figures oppose all AI?

No. The records reviewed do not establish opposition to every form or use of AI. The restriction in them targets data center construction and specific harms, and he voted yea on a bill to help small businesses use AI.

Has the AI data center moratorium bill become law?

No enactment is recorded for H.R. 9442 in the status record reviewed, and the latest recorded action is its June 24, 2026 referral. If enacted, its pause would take effect on enactment and would end only after the conditions in its text are met, with no fixed expiry date.

Did Shomari Figures vote for the TAKE IT DOWN Act?

Yes. The House Clerk records a yea vote from him on the motion to suspend the rules and pass the TAKE IT DOWN Act on April 28, 2025.

The House passed the measure 409 to 2, and it became Public Law 119-12 on May 19, 2025. The Senate passed it by unanimous consent, so the House vote is the only individual vote on record for that measure.

Has Shomari Figures's 2026 reelection been certified?

The records reviewed contain no certification. The Associated Press called his reelection in Alabama's 2nd district on November 4, 2026, and a race call reports a result without certifying it.