“To the great people of this city, whether you voted for me or not, I work for you,” Birmingham mayor Randall Woodfin told a crowd of his supporters at an election watch party Tuesday night. “And because I work for you, I hear you and I see you, and I want you to know that I’m ready to keep the city moving forward with you.”
First elected as mayor in a 2017 runoff election, and then re-elected in 2021, unofficial results with 67 of 68 precincts reporting showed he received almost 75 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s mayoral election. As Woodfin walked to the podium, he jokingly chanted “threepeat” to celebrate the occasion.
Woodfin also used the opportunity to outline his plans for a third term as mayor of Birmingham.
“We’re going to keep taking illegal guns off the street,” he said. “We’re going to keep investing in our children’s education, mental health, and safety. We’re going to make housing more affordable, public transportation more reliable, and every corner of our city more connected and cared for.”
“Together, we’re building a Birmingham that works for everyone. Not just today and tonight, but for generations to come,” Woodfin declared.
The race for Birmingham mayor this year was relatively crowded with nine candidates on the ballot, and three of whom, including Woodfin, currently hold a public office.
Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales came in second, receiving over 4,700 votes. Scales had made opposing the restructuring of Central Alabama Water, né Birmingham Water Works, one major plank of her campaign.
Authorized by a law Governor Kay Ivey signed earlier this year, the restructuring was described by Scales as a sign that “Birmingham is under attack, with the overthrow on behalf of the state of Alabama” in an August interview. During a debate in late August, Woodfin redirected complaints about the changes towards a fellow mayoral candidate, state Representative Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham.
Rep. Givan, who has been serving in the state legislature since 2010, came in third place in the election with under 5 percent of the vote. In a brief three-and-a-half minute livestream Tuesday afternoon, Givan said she would accept the results of the election, no matter what they were, and was glad she ran.
“Whether I win or whether I lose, tomorrow I will lift my head with pride because I ran a race and I ran a good race,” she stated. “I ran the race that I felt was best for me under the circumstances: I ran a race of hope, I ran a race of pride.”
“I did what I said I would do. I said I would run for mayor,” Givan added. “I also said to the people, ‘if you like what you have, you keep it. If you like the services that you have, you keep it.’”
In the final days of the campaign, local attorney and vocal Woodfin supporter Eric Guster announced he had filed a defamation suit against Givan and two other individuals. Givan has since publicly disputed Guster’s portrayal of events and announced she will be filing a countersuit.
“Bullying people, that’s not how you get votes,” Guster asserted during his post-election livestream on Facebook. He added that he “did not know Givan’s personality was the way that it was” when she entered the race and told viewers he could not comment on the ongoing lawsuit.
Other incumbents on the ballot in Birmingham also performed very well on Tuesday. City councilors Clinton Woods, Crystal Smitherman, and Wardine Alexander all won their respective races. Darrell O’Quinn and Hunter Williams won by default, as both went unopposed.
Current city councilors LaTonya Tate and J.T. Moore, however, will each have to compete in a second run-off election as both received less than a majority of the votes cast in their district. Moore actually came in second in his race, receiving a few hundred fewer votes than city planning commission member Brian Gunn.
