Meet 18 Candidates Leading the Historic Rise of Black Women Running for Office in Alabama

To curtail violence, she has proposed strategies like setting up security systems and implementing peace officers in schools who can both protect the students but also get to know them—so they can talk students who might be a potential threat away from committing violent acts.

Miranda Joseph, Running for State Auditor

Joseph, 33, is a board-certified internal auditor whose training and education has all taken place in her home state. Her goal? “To take our family values to Montgomery to ensure we have an open and honest government,” she says. “Just as we sit at our kitchen tables to save and watch our pennies, our government should do the same with her tax dollars.”

Audri Scott Williams, Running for U.S. House of Representatives, Alabama District 2

Scott Williams, 62, is running for Congress in Alabama’s Second District to promote peace. As a former Army Reservist and internationally renowned speaker who has fought against the religious persecution of Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and was given the Service to Humanity award by President Clinton—peace building has been her life’s mission. Outside of her work she’s a mother of three sons, a grandmother of 14, and has been in a loving relationship with her life partner, Karen, for 15 years. When asked why she’s chosen this year to run for office for the first time, Scott Williams explains, “This is a time that is so important for women, and women of color to show up,” she says. “Our country needs us. We are the ones who can forge through this bipartisan craziness that is going on and build the bridges, partnerships, and coalitions that will get America back on track.” Talk about making America great again.

Vivian Davis Figures, Running for Reelection for Alabama State Senator, District 33

Figures, 61, was first sworn in to the Alabama Senate in 1997 after her husband Michael A. Figures passed away and a special election was held to fill his seat. When the press joked that she had “big shoes to fill,” Figures retorted that she wore a size 7—a clear signal that she would be focusing on her own shoes. She’s held the seat ever since.

When Figures began her term, there were very few women in the senate, and “women were not even allowed to wear pants on the Senate floor,” she recalls. A rule that baffled her. “One day I wore a navy blue pinstripe suit and all of the clerks came over and said, ‘Senator Figures, you can't wear that on the floor!’ So I said, ‘I'd like to see them pull me off the floor in my pantsuit.’ I went up to the secretary of the Senate and said, ‘Mr. Lee, how do you think I look in my pantsuit today?’ And he said, ‘Senator Figures, as usual you look great.’ And I told him, ‘You know, Mr. Lee, it’s proper business attire in this day and age for women to wear suits.’ He took me straight to the supervisor of the clerks and we changed the rule that day. It was the first thing I did for women when I went to the Senate.”

Figures remains a champion for women. As one of the few current sitting politicians at Glamour’s Birmingham photo shoot, and by far the longest ranking one on set, Figures led the rest of the candidates in a prayer circle, channeling the devotion to faith that most of the candidates spoke of in their interviews. The women prayed that each of their campaigns would be blessed with a win in the June 5 Alabama primaries. But regardless of wins, she said, “we know we are a force to be reckoned with.”