2021 Birmingham, Alabama mayoral election

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]

Background[]

Woodfin 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[]

Confirmed[]

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[]

Cerissa Brown

Organizations

American Youth for Climate Action^[11]
Future Generations PAC^[11]

Lashunda Scales

State politicians

John Rogers, state representative^[11]

Individuals

Buck Johnson, former professional basketball player^[11]

Randall Woodfin

U.S. Executive Branch Officials

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]

Federal officials

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 officials

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, former state senator, 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]
The Collective PAC^[16]

Labor Unions

Central Alabama AFL-CIO^[11]
Communications Workers of America^[11]

Chris Woods

Judges

U. W. Clemon, former justice on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama^[9]

Polling[]

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[]

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	WVTM WATV	Lisa Crane	Video	N	P	N	N	P	N	P	P
2^[18]	August 17, 2021 6:30 p.m. CDT	Birmingham Times Summit Media CBS 42 WBHM Birmingham Association of Black Journalists	Janae Pierre	Video	P	P	N	P	P	P	P	N

Results[]

General election results^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Nonpartisan	Randall Woodfin (incumbent)	23,616	64.33
	Nonpartisan	Lashaunda Scales	7,625	20.77
	Nonpartisan	William A. Bell	3,354	9.14
	Nonpartisan	Chris Woods	1,562	4.23
	Nonpartisan	Cerissa Brown	236	0.64
	Nonpartisan	Philemon Hill	149	0.41
	Nonpartisan	Darryl Williams	120	0.33
	Nonpartisan	Napoleon Gonzalez	47	0.13
Total votes			36,709	100.00

Notes[]

^ Cerissa Brown and Chris Woods with 2%, Philemon Hill and Darryl Williams with 0%

References[]

^ @CBS_42 (25 August 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 (19 August 2021). "President Joe Biden endorses Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin for re-election". Alabama Media Group.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^ 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". 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.
^ 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[]

Official campaign websites

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[17] Cerissa Brown and Chris Woods with 2%, Philemon Hill and Darryl Williams with 0%

[1] @CBS_42 (25 August 2021). "Mayor Randall Woodfin has won a..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.

[2] "Can Mayor Randall Woodfin win without a runoff?". al. August 22, 2021.

[WBHM-3] Prickett, Sam (March 1, 2021). "Field Of Candidates For Birmingham Mayor Continues To Grow". WBHM 90.3.

[who's_running-4] 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.

[candidates_set-5] ^ ^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.

[6] Glenn, John (March 2, 2021). "Former Birmingham Mayor William Bell announces mayoral bid". Alabama Political Reporter.

[7] Prickett, Sam (August 4, 2017). "Ervin Philemon Hill II". BirminghamWatch. Retrieved August 7, 2017.

[prelim-8] "Birmingham Mayor's Race: Who's in right now". WBRC. January 19, 2021.

[never_held_office-9] "Five candidates for Birmingham mayor have never held office". al. August 23, 2021.

[10] "Randall Woodfin raises $270K – in one week – for second term as Birmingham Mayor". Birmingham Times. September 8, 2020.

[spoken-11] ^ ^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".

[12] Greg Garrison (19 August 2021). "President Joe Biden endorses Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin for re-election". Alabama Media Group.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[13] 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.

[abrams-14] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h "Stacey Abrams endorses Woodfin in re-election bid for Birmingham mayor". August 9, 2021.

[15] 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.

[16] Glenn, John (January 29, 2021). "Mayor Randall Woodfin endorsed by The Collective PAC". Alabama Political Reporter.

[18] Digital, WVTM 13 (August 14, 2021). "Birmingham mayoral candidates debate at Lawson State". WVTM.

[19] Times, Birmingham (August 11, 2021). "Mayoral Election 2021: Birmingham Times, other local media hosting debate".

[20] "Election Results: Birmingham Municipal Elections Runoff 2021". www.wbrc.com.

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