On Tuesday, Birmingham residents cast ballots in three run-off elections for seats on their city council. According to unofficial results, political newcomer Brian Gunn successfully ousted the District 4 incumbent, Birmingham Board of Education member Sonja Smith will take the open District 8 seat, and District 9 incumbent LaTonya Tate was re-elected.
In the first round of elections in late August, Gunn received hundreds more votes than the incumbent city councilor J.T. Moore. On Tuesday, unofficial results showed he received more than twice as many votes as Moore in a two-way race, with 99 percent of votes reported.
Moore attracted public criticism and attention last year after being arrested for driving under the influence in a city vehicle. He apologized for the event during a city council meeting, saying he would “take responsibility and accountability for my actions.”
During a phone interview with APR on Tuesday, Gunn said Moore’s arrest did not play a role in his decision to run for city council. “I’ve been wanting to run for a city office since about 2007, and so everything just aligned this go-round,” he said.
Gunn also said he plans to focus on reducing gun violence, communicating with the District 4 community, and helping attract investment as District 4’s new city councilor.
“So some of the ways that we can work to reduce gun violence, we’ve got to provide job opportunities for the youth in our city,” Gunn explained. “We’ve gotta make sure that they are skilled to meet the demands of the modern day industry. We know that AI is taking over, so what are we doing to make sure that our workforce in District 4 and throughout the city of Birmingham is able to meet those demands?”
“We’ve also got to make sure that our communities have the resources necessary to give kids something to do throughout the summer, and afterschool activities,” he added.
While Sonja Smith came in second during the August general election, she received almost two hundred more votes than April Myers Williams in the run-off per the unofficial results.
Smith’s campaign website highlights her support for small businesses, neighborhoods, and youth opportunities, as well as her experience as a local school teacher. “The district has shown up and I’m confident that my neighbors will be there to help our district,” Smith told a WBRC reporter on election night.
Like Smith, Williams has spent time serving on the Birmingham Board of Education, for a total of 4 terms. During an episode of the “What’s Happening Birmingham?” podcast, she explained she had chosen to run for city council because “I am a public servant.”
Unofficial results also showed LaTonya Tate, the councilor for District 9 since she unseated John Hilliard in 2021, received over 900 votes compared to Hilliard’s over 700 in the only rematch of this crop of city council elections. In the first round of the election, Tate received 44.5 percent of the vote to Hilliard’s 29 percent.
During the weeks leading up to the election on Tuesday, Hilliard’s campaign chose to repeatedly highlight how he had delivered for District 9 in the past as their city councilor.
Like Gunn and Smith, Tate’s platform, according to her campaign website, is focused on public safety and economic improvements for the district she will now continue to represent on the city council.
“I’m honored to keep serving you for four more years, listening, leading, and standing on the people’s business every step of the way,” she wrote in a Facebook post reflecting on the results. “Together we’ll keep building safer, stronger, and more connected neighborhoods.”
