Merika Coleman

Merika Coleman

Democratic Party

Alabama State Senate District 19

Tenure

2022 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

1

Predecessor

Priscilla Dunn

Prior offices

Alabama House of Representatives District 57

Successor: Patrick Sellers

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Compensation

Base salary

$59,674.08/year

Per diem

No per diem is paid to legislators whose permanent residence is less than six hours away. Legislators who are 6-12 hrs from their permanent residence receive $12.75/day. Legislators who are over 12 hours away and have no overnight stay receive $34/day.

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

University of Alabama, Birmingham, 1995

Graduate

University of Alabama, Birmingham, 1997

Law

Birmingham School of Law, 2017

Personal

Religion

Christian: Baptist

Profession

Business owner

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Campaign YouTube

Personal Facebook

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Merika Coleman (Democratic Party) is a member of the Alabama State Senate, representing District 19. She assumed office on November 9, 2022. Her current term ends on November 4, 2026.

Coleman (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Alabama's 2nd Congressional District. She lost in the Democratic primary on March 5, 2024.

Biography

Merika Coleman earned a B.A. in mass communication/media studies from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1995, an M.P.A. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 1997, and a J.D. from Birmingham School of Law in 2017. Coleman's career experience includes founding the Law Offices of Merika Coleman.

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Coleman was assigned to the following committees:

• Jefferson County Legislation Committee
• House Judiciary Committee

2021-2022

Coleman was assigned to the following committees:

• Financial Services Committee
• Jefferson County Legislation Committee
• House Judiciary Committee

2019-2020

Coleman was assigned to the following committees:

• Financial Services Committee
• House Judiciary Committee
• Jefferson County Legislation Committee

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Coleman served on the following committees:

Alabama committee assignments, 2015
• Financial Services
• Judiciary

2011-2012

Coleman served on these committees in the 2011-2012 legislative session:

Alabama committee assignments, 2011
• Children and Senior Advocacy
• Jefferson County Legislation
• Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure
• Ways and Means General Fund

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Alabama's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024

Alabama's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Democratic primary)

Alabama's 2nd Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 2

Shomari Figures and Caroleene Dobson are running in the general election for U.S. House Alabama District 2 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate
		Shomari Figures (D)
		Caroleene Dobson (R)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 2

Shomari Figures defeated Anthony Daniels in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 2 on April 16, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Shomari Figures	61.1	21,962
		Anthony Daniels	38.9	14,006

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 35,968
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 2

Caroleene Dobson defeated Dick Brewbaker in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 2 on April 16, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Caroleene Dobson	58.4	14,705
		Dick Brewbaker	41.6	10,471

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 25,176
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 2

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 2 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Shomari Figures	43.4	24,980
✔		Anthony Daniels	22.4	12,879
		Napoleon Bracy Jr.	15.7	9,010
		Merika Coleman	6.0	3,445
		Phyllis Harvey-Hall	3.5	2,007
		James Averhart	2.8	1,623
		Jeremy Gray	2.7	1,580
		Juandalynn Givan	2.2	1,261
		Vimal Patel	0.5	289
		Larry Darnell Simpson	0.4	247
		Willie Lenard	0.3	199

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,520
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Brian Gary (D)
• Darryl Sinkfield (D)
• Terell Anderson (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 2

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 2 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dick Brewbaker	39.6	22,589
✔		Caroleene Dobson	26.5	15,102
		Greg Albritton	25.3	14,434
		Hampton Harris	2.5	1,414
		Belinda Thomas	1.9	1,082
		Wallace Gilberry (Unofficially withdrew)	1.5	838
		Karla DuPriest	1.4	823
		Stacey Shepperson	1.4	773

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,055
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Barry Moore (R)
• Simon Mark Alvarez (R)

Endorsements

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2022

See also: Alabama State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Alabama State Senate District 19

Merika Coleman defeated Danny Wilson in the general election for Alabama State Senate District 19 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Merika Coleman (D)	86.5	26,369
		Danny Wilson (L)	12.8	3,904
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	204

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,477
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Alabama State Senate District 19

Merika Coleman defeated Louise Alexander in the Democratic primary for Alabama State Senate District 19 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Merika Coleman	72.2	10,371
		Louise Alexander	27.8	4,002

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 14,373
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2018

See also: Alabama House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Alabama House of Representatives District 57

Incumbent Merika Coleman won election in the general election for Alabama House of Representatives District 57 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Merika Coleman (D)	98.1	12,831
		Other/Write-in votes	1.9	251

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 13,082 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Alabama House of Representatives District 57

Incumbent Merika Coleman advanced from the Democratic primary for Alabama House of Representatives District 57 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Merika Coleman

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2014

See also: Alabama House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for the Alabama House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 3, 2014; a runoff election took place where necessary on July 15, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 7, 2014. Incumbent Merika Coleman-Evans was unopposed in the Democratic primary and was unchallenged in the general election.

2010

See also: Alabama House of Representatives elections, 2010

Coleman won re-election to the District 57 seat in 2010. She defeated Carole Dobbs Marks and Fred Plump in the primary. She faced no opposition in the November 2 general election.

Alabama House of Representatives, District 57 Democratic Primary (2010)
Candidates		Votes
Merika Coleman (D)		3,441
Fred Plump (D)		1,079
Carole Dobbs Marks (D)		540

2009

In 2009, Coleman unsuccessfully challenged Priscilla Dunn in the special election to replace Edward McClain in the Alabama State Senate. McClain retired from the senate after a federal conviction for conspiracy, mail fraud, bribery and money laundering.

2006

See also: Alabama House of Representatives elections, 2006

On November 7, 2006, Coleman was re-elected to the District 57 seat in the Alabama House of Representatives, running uncontested in the general election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Merika Coleman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Merika Coleman did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Merika Coleman campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	U.S. House Alabama District 2	Lost primary	$142,031	$110,017
2022	Alabama State Senate District 19	Won general	$286,594	$218,148
2018	Alabama House of Representatives District 57	Won general	$59,245	N/A**
2014	Alabama House of Representatives, District 57	Won	$108,485	N/A**
2010	Alabama House of Representatives, District 57	Won	$71,450	N/A**
2006	Alabama House of Representatives, District 57	Won	$85,717	N/A**
2002	Alabama House of Representatives, District 57	Won	$43,866	N/A**
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only availabale data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Alabama

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Alabama scorecards, email suggestions to [email protected].

2023

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show].
In 2023, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from March 7 to June 6. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2022

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show].
In 2022, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from January 11 to April 7. Alabama Policy Institute Legislators are scored on their votes on the association's policy platform. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to small business issues.

2021

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show].
In 2021, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from February 2 to May 17. Alabama Policy Institute Legislators are scored on their votes on the association's policy platform. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2020

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show].
In 2020, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from February 4 to May 18. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2019

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2019, click [show].
In 2019, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from March 5 through May 31. Club for Growth Foundation Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2018

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show].
In 2018, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from January 9 to March 29. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues. National Federation of Independent Business Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to small business issues.

2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].
In 2017, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from February 7 through May 19. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].
In 2016, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from February 2 through May 4. The Legislature held a special session from August 15 to September 7. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2015

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show].
In 2015, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from March 3 through June 4. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2014

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show].
In 2014, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from January 14 through April 4. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

See also

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Candidate

U.S. House Alabama District 2

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Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the Alabama State Senate

Leadership

Majority Leader:Steve Livingston

Minority Leader:Bobby Singleton

Senators

District 1

Tim Melson (R)

District 2

Tom Butler (R)

District 3

Arthur Orr (R)

District 4

Garlan Gudger (R)

District 5

Greg Reed (R)

District 6

Larry Stutts (R)

District 7

Sam Givhan (R)

District 8

Steve Livingston (R)

District 9

Wes Kitchens (R)

District 10

Andrew Jones (R)

District 11

Lance Bell (R)

District 12

Keith Kelley (R)

District 13

Randy Price (R)

District 14

April Weaver (R)

District 15

Dan Roberts (R)

District 16

J.T. Waggoner (R)

District 17

Shay Shelnutt (R)

District 18

Rodger Smitherman (D)

District 19

Merika Coleman (D)

District 20

Linda Coleman-Madison (D)

District 21

Gerald Allen (R)

District 22

Greg Albritton (R)

District 23

Robert Stewart (D)

District 24

Bobby Singleton (D)

District 25

Will Barfoot (R)

District 26

Kirk Hatcher (D)

District 27

Jay Hovey (R)

District 28

Billy Beasley (D)

District 29

Donnie Chesteen (R)

District 30

Clyde Chambliss (R)

District 31

Josh Carnley (R)

District 32

Chris Elliott (R)

District 33

Vivian Figures (D)

District 34

Jack Williams (R)

District 35

David Sessions (R)

Republican Party (27)

Democratic Party (8)

[show]

Alabama's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Katie Britt (R)

Tommy Tuberville (R)

Representatives

District 1

Jerry Carl (R)

District 2

Barry Moore (R)

District 3

Mike Rogers (R)

District 4

Robert Aderholt (R)

District 5

Dale Strong (R)

District 6

Gary Palmer (R)

District 7

Terri Sewell (D)

Republican Party (8)

Democratic Party (1)