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]

2021 Birmingham mayoral election

← 2017 August 24, 2021 (2021-08-24) 2025 →
 
Candidate Randall Woodfin Lashaunda Scales William A. Bell
Party Democratic Democratic Democratic
Popular vote 23,616 7,625 3,354
Percentage 64.3% 20.8% 9.1%

Mayor before election

Randall Woodfin
Democratic

Elected Mayor

Randall Woodfin
Democratic

Background

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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

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Confirmed

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Endorsements

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Cerissa Brown
PACs
  • American Youth for Climate Action[11]
  • Future Generations PAC[11]
Lashunda Scales
State legislators
Individuals
Randall Woodfin
U.S. Presidents
U.S. Senators
State legislators
Local officials
Individuals
Organizations
Labor unions
PACs
  • The Collective PAC[16]

Polling

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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

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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
Birmingham Times
Summit Media
CBS 42
WBHM
Birmingham Association
of Black Journalists
Janae Pierre
P P N P P P P N

Results

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General election results[19]
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

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

References

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  1. ^ @CBS_42 (August 25, 2021). "Mayor Randall Woodfin has won a..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "Can Mayor Randall Woodfin win without a runoff?". al. August 22, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Prickett, Sam (March 1, 2021). "Field Of Candidates For Birmingham Mayor Continues To Grow". WBHM 90.3.
  4. ^ 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.
  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.
  8. ^ a b "Birmingham Mayor's Race: Who's in right now". WBRC. January 19, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d "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.
  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 (August 19, 2021). "President Joe Biden endorses Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin for re-election". Alabama Media Group.
  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.
  14. ^ a b c d e f g h "Stacey Abrams endorses Woodfin in re-election bid for Birmingham mayor". CBS 42. 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.
  17. ^ Digital, WVTM 13 (August 14, 2021). "Birmingham mayoral candidates debate at Lawson State". WVTM.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Times, Birmingham (August 11, 2021). "Mayoral Election 2021: Birmingham Times, other local media hosting debate".
  19. ^ "Election Results: Birmingham Municipal Elections Runoff 2021". www.wbrc.com.
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Official campaign websites