Caroleene Hardee Dobson Tries to Hide Her Support For Project 2025, Says She’s “Only Heard About It” on Fox News

Democratic congressional candidate Shomari Figures is connecting his Republican opponent in the 2nd congressional district contest to the controversial Project 2025, the 900-page document detailing proposed policies for the possible return of a Donald Trump administration.

The political clash, played out in news releases and media interviews this week, focuses on two policy issues that could be problematic for Republicans in competitive districts with fewer than 100 days remaining before the Nov. 5 general election. The 2nd congressional district, which covers a wide swath of South Alabama, represents a rare competitive race for a U.S. House seat in Alabama and has captured the interests of both national Democratic and Republican campaign groups.

Distortions, connections: Dobson told AL.com this week she is "wholly unfamiliar" with the policies in Project 2025, spearheaded by the right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation and involving 100 conservative groups including the Alabama Policy Institute. Figures disputes Dobson's statement, saying she knows what Project 2025 is and that her campaign aligns with the policies written throughout the massive document.

The plan… proposes to remove protections for thousands of federal employees to make them easier to fire and replace with Republican loyalists. It also proposes sweeping changes to the federal government, including eliminating the Department of Education, reducing the scope of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, limiting mail-order abortion pills, and removing diversity, equity and inclusion hiring policies from federal programs.

"Of course, my opponent knows what project 2025 is," Figures said. "She just doesn't call it that. She calls it 'Dobson for Congress.'"

Dobson isn't the only Republican linked to Project 2025. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which added Figures to its "Red to Blue" program in May, is seeking to tie Republicans in competitive races to Project 2025 as they look for a winning political message before the election. A memo obtained by USA Today says the GOP's "enthusiastic embrace of these policies will be the anchor the DCCC will use to sink the campaigns of the phony moderates who refuse to stand up to Trump and his extreme agenda in the final sprint towards election day."

IVF, abortion rights: Figures said Dobson's support of state authority in determining abortion rights is "an extension of the extreme type of philosophy which led to IVF being called into question in the first place in Alabama."

The Alabama State Supreme Court ruled in February that couples could pursue wrongful death claims for the destruction of their "extrauterine children," in a decision that temporarily put IVF procedures in Alabama in legal limbo.

"We can't sit here and punt this issue to the states and have people in Congress sit there silently say we are OK with you telling women what to do with their bodies," Figures said.

He added, "The fact of the matter is that Republicans had no concerns with jeopardizing IVF when they passed the extreme anti-choice legislation they rammed through Alabama and other parts of the country. They were only worried about it when they saw the ramifications of their extreme actions and the fascination with controlling women's health care decisions. At the end of the day, Democrats stood by IVF access and a woman's right to choose and make their own health care decisions."

Dobson said she is "proudly pro-life," and is a believer in "helping women and couples to create, nurture, and bring new life into the world."

Said Figures, "If they truly care about IVF, they should be able to truly care about women making their own health care decisions."

Challenges: Polling on Project 2025 and IVF shows difficulties for Republicans, who continue to get attacked by Democrats on both issues.

Project 2025 has, in recent weeks, become more recognized and not in a favorable light amid criticism from Democrats and Trump. In a poll of 1,000 people earlier this month by Navigator Research, a progressive research group, 54% said they were familiar with it, up from 29% from June. Of those polled, 43% said they had an unfavorable view of the project, up from 19% in June.

IVF also continues to be a challenge. […] According to an AP-NORC poll of 1,088 adults last month, about 6 in 10 favor protecting access to IVF, including 77% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans.