The 2021 Birmingham mayoral election was held on August 24, 2021, to elect the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. Incumbent Democratic mayor Randall Woodfin was re-elected to a second term.[1]
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Background
editWoodfin was first elected in 2017, defeating incumbent mayor William A. Bell in a runoff. He was a keynote speaker at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. During his first term, he faced criticism for furloughing some city employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, committing $3 million per year to the Protective Stadium, creating a city-funded scholarship program, and replacing Birmingham's police chief, though he has defended all the aforementioned decisions. In his reelection campaign, Woodfin primarily touted his accomplishments in renovating several dilapidated areas of the city and reforming the city's police department. A primary issue in the campaign was the results of the 2020 United States census, which showed that Huntsville had surpassed Birmingham as Alabama's most populous city. Woodfin believed that Birmingham's population loss was due to a brain drain, and pointed out that the aforementioned scholarship program could help keep high school graduates in the city.[2]
Candidates
editConfirmed
edit- Cerissa Brown, mental health advocate[3][4][5]
- William A. Bell, former mayor[6][4][5]
- Napoleon Gonzalez[5]
- Philemon Hill, mechanical engineer and candidate for mayor in 2017[7][5]
- Lashunda Scales, President pro tempore of the Jefferson County commission[8][5][9]
- Darryl Williams, house refurbisher[3][4][5][9]
- Randall Woodfin, incumbent mayor[10][4][5]
- Chris Woods, businessman, former National Football League player, nephew of Abraham Woods, and candidate for mayor in 1995 and 2017[8][4][5][9]
Endorsements
editLashunda Scales
- State legislators
- John Rogers, state representative[11]
- Individuals
- Buck Johnson, former professional basketball player[11]
Randall Woodfin
- U.S. Presidents
- Joe Biden, 46th President of the United States, former 47th Vice President of the United States (2009–2017), former U.S. Senator from Delaware (1973–2009)[12]
- U.S. Senators
- Cory Booker, U.S. Senator from New Jersey (2015–president) and candidate for president in 2020[11]
- Doug Jones, former U.S. Senator from Alabama (2018–2021)[13]
- State legislators
- Stacey Abrams, founder of Fair Fight Action and former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives[14]
- Rolanda Hollis, state representative[14]
- Local officials
- Richard Arrington, former mayor of Birmingham[14]
- Sheila Tyson, Jefferson County commissioner[14]
- Hunter Williams, Birmingham city councillor[11]
- Individuals
- Nina Turner, activist, former Ohio State Senator and candidate for OH-11 in 2021[11]
- Organizations
- Alabama New South Coalition[14]
- Central Alabama Labor Coalition[14]
- College Democrats of Alabama[14]
- High School Democrats of Alabama[14]
- Human Rights Campaign[15]
- Labor unions
- Central Alabama AFL–CIO[11]
- Communications Workers of America[11]
- PACs
- The Collective PAC[16]
Chris Woods
- Judges
- U. W. Clemon, former justice on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama[9]
Polling
edit| Poll source | Date(s) administered |
Sample size |
Margin of error |
Randall Woodfin |
William Bell |
Lashaunda Scales |
Others | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birmingham Times | May 11–June 4, 2021 | 250 (LV) | ± 6.2% | 52% | 10% | 11% | 4%[a] | 23% |
| Chism Strategies | April 1–5, 2021 | 662 (LV) | ± 3.9% | 49% | 14% | 12% | 21% | – |
Debates
edit| 2021 Birmingham mayoral election debates | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Date & Time | Host(s) | Moderator(s) | Link | Participants | |||||||||||
| Key: P Participant N Non-invitee I Invitee |
Brown | Bell | Gonzalez | Hill | Scales | Williams | Woodfin | Woods | ||||||||
| 1[17] | August 13, 2021
|
Lisa Crane
|
N | P | N | N | P | N | P | P | ||||||
| 2[18] | August 17, 2021
6:30 p.m. CDT |
Janae Pierre
|
P | P | N | P | P | P | P | N | ||||||
Results
edit| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Randall Woodfin (incumbent) | 23,616 | 64.33 | |
| Lashaunda Scales | 7,625 | 20.77 | |
| William A. Bell | 3,354 | 9.14 | |
| Chris Woods | 1,562 | 4.23 | |
| Cerissa Brown | 236 | 0.64 | |
| Philemon Hill | 149 | 0.41 | |
| Darryl Williams | 120 | 0.33 | |
| Napoleon Gonzalez | 47 | 0.13 | |
| Total votes | 36,709 | 100.00 | |
Notes
edit- ^ Cerissa Brown and Chris Woods with 2%, Philemon Hill and Darryl Williams with 0%
References
edit- ^ @CBS_42 (August 25, 2021). "Mayor Randall Woodfin has won a..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Can Mayor Randall Woodfin win without a runoff?". al. August 22, 2021.
- ^ a b Prickett, Sam (March 1, 2021). "Field Of Candidates For Birmingham Mayor Continues To Grow". WBHM 90.3.
- ^ a b c d e Garrison, Greg (July 14, 2021). "Birmingham mayoral race 2021: Who's running?". AL.com (published July 9, 2021). Archived from the original on August 7, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "City of Birmingham preparing for municipal election on Aug. 24". WVTM-TV. Birmingham, Ala. July 15, 2021. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
- ^ Glenn, John (March 2, 2021). "Former Birmingham Mayor William Bell announces mayoral bid". Alabama Political Reporter.
- ^ Prickett, Sam (August 4, 2017). "Ervin Philemon Hill II". BirminghamWatch. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
- ^ a b "Birmingham Mayor's Race: Who's in right now". WBRC. January 19, 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Five candidates for Birmingham mayor have never held office". al. August 23, 2021.
- ^ "Randall Woodfin raises $270K – in one week – for second term as Birmingham Mayor". Birmingham Times. September 8, 2020.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Times, Birmingham (August 19, 2021). "Woodfin, Challengers Have Spoken. Now It's Up to Birmingham Voters".
- ^ Greg Garrison (August 19, 2021). "President Joe Biden endorses Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin for re-election". Alabama Media Group.
- ^ Hedgepeth, Lee (August 5, 2021). "Former Sen. Doug Jones endorses Randall Woodfin in Birmingham mayoral race". WIAT. Archived from the original on August 5, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Stacey Abrams endorses Woodfin in re-election bid for Birmingham mayor". CBS 42. August 9, 2021.
- ^ Garrison, Greg (July 10, 2021). "Human Rights Campaign endorses Woodfin for mayor". AL.com (published June 28, 2021). Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2021.
- ^ Glenn, John (January 29, 2021). "Mayor Randall Woodfin endorsed by The Collective PAC". Alabama Political Reporter.
- ^ Digital, WVTM 13 (August 14, 2021). "Birmingham mayoral candidates debate at Lawson State". WVTM.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Times, Birmingham (August 11, 2021). "Mayoral Election 2021: Birmingham Times, other local media hosting debate".
- ^ "Election Results: Birmingham Municipal Elections Runoff 2021". www.wbrc.com.
External links
edit- Official campaign websites
- Cerissa Brown for Mayor
- William A. Bell (D) for Mayor Archived 2021-05-01 at the Wayback Machine
- Lashunda Scales for Mayor Archived 2021-03-15 at the Wayback Machine
- Randall Woodfin (D) for Mayor
- Chris Woods for Mayor Archived 2021-03-31 at the Wayback Machine
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