The Interview: State Senator Figures

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - A Senator named Figures has represented Mobile County in the Alabama State Senate almost 34 years.

When the session convenes in February, State Senator Vivian Davis Figures will take her seat as the new Minority Leader, becoming the first female ever in the position.

Figures recently shared about how she started in politics, her years in elected office and its challenges.

STARTING OUT IN POLITICS

"My husband Michael encouraged me to run for the Democratic National Convention in 1984. So I ran as a pledged delegate to Jesse Jackson and ended up getting the most votes. Definitely more than Michael did in the First Congressional District, and maybe that was a sign at the time," Figures said.

Senator Figures calls that her first taste of being elected. She’s been an Alabama state senator for 17 years.

Figures said she has spent most of her adult life in politics. She said she started out helping other candidates and with her husband's campaigns. Her husband, Michael Figures, was Mobile County's first elected African-American State Senator.

 In 1993, she accepted what she said she considers a calling.

"I really had no aspirations to run for elected office. There were actually people who had approached me and said, ‘You need to run for the Mobile City Council.’  At that time, it was a lot of infighting and conflict, and I just felt that I could make a difference there. And that's when I decided to run for city council,” she shared.

Figures said 1996 was a life changing year. Her husband was elected President Pro Tempore of the Alabama State Senate. In September 1996, Figures said her husband passed away unexpectedly at 48-years-old.

"Great humanitarian, orator, lawyer and also one who we thought would be Alabama's first African-American governor. To see that just halted, you know with no sign, no warning whatsoever," Figures said.

FACING NEW CHALLENGES

She said her husband’s death caused her to take on new challenges.

"I never had any kind of aspiration to go to state government. I was happy on the Mobile City Council. A number of people urged me to run for the seat, but I looked at myself as not qualified because I was comparing myself to Michael. When I sat my boys down and talked to them about it, they wanted me to run, and that is what convinced me to run for the senate," Figures said.

She said being elected to office was bittersweet.

"It was an honor that the people had elected me to serve out his unexpired term, but it was so bitter going there. It was just another indicator that he was gone. There were times when I would just be so full I would cry or I would go into my office or whatever. So it was bittersweet," Figures recalled.

There were different challenges for the incoming Senator Figures.

"When I went to the Senate in 1997, women were not allowed to wear pants or slacks on the senate floor.  So I was approached by secretaries that morning when I wore my navy blue pinstripe suit. Anyway, I went to the Secretary of the Senate and asked him about it and then we changed things. They changed the rule right there," she said.

This February marks her 17th year in the Alabama State Senate. As Minority Leader, Senator Figures is the highest ranking elected Democratic official in the state. 

"The greatest challenge is that there is a super majority, and it seems to be little effort to really listen to the other point of view. So many times we call it being run over like a freight train, that issues come up and they're not heard, and even for me as a woman," Figures said.

As one of five female state senators, committee appointments sometimes require organized protest.

"We needed a woman on the judiciary committee because that committee deals with so many issues concerning family, domestic violence and women's issues. We just decided we were going to filibuster until they put women on those seats. As we started, they started putting people on those committees. They put a woman on all the committees except the judiciary,” she said.

She said that didn’t stop her from fighting for what she believed was right.

“I said, ‘You know, with all due respect Mr. President Pro Tem, no, I am not happy because we need a woman there.’ So it ended up that of course, they still wouldn't let me be on the judiciary committee as I had been since I was elected. So I said, 'Well, put another woman on there.' So Senator Linda Coleman, who was on education committee, said, ‘If you take education, I'll go on the judiciary.' So they put a woman on all the committees. So they allowed that to happen, and it happened. It is a challenge, you know, being in the minority, the super minority," Figures said.

LEADING WITH FAITH

Despite political challenges and the loss of her husband, Senator Figures said there's a reason she's still serving.

"I'm a woman of deep faith. I’m very spiritual. In fact, I tell people I’m not your typical politician, but a spiritually led elected official. And, for that reason I believe that God