Birmingham voters cast their ballots Tuesday to elect a mayor, city council and board of education.
Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin cruised to an easy win without a runoff, garnering more than 64 percent of the vote.
Woodfin took to the stage about 10 p.m. at his victory celebration. He hugged his mother, Cynthia Woodfin-Kellum, and thanked supporters who helped knock on 80,000 doors during the campaign. “My commitment and sense of urgency will be the same over the next four years,” Woodfin said.
Woodfin was up for re-election with seven challengers on the ballot. The challengers were: former Mayor William Bell, building contractor Chris Woods, sports agent Erin Philemon Hill II, Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales, former city worker Darryl Williams, mental health advocate Cerissa Brown and Napoleon Gonzalez.
In unofficial totals, with all 68 precincts reporting, Woodfin had 64.33 percent (23,616 votes), Scales 20.77 percent (7,625 votes), Bell 9.14 percent (3,354 votes) and Woods 4.26 percent (1,562 votes). No other candidates had one percent.
Birmingham has 145,564 registered voters; 36,790 ballots were cast. Turnout was 25.27 percent.
Bell conceded by 9:30 and Scales before 10 p.m. “As we move forward, I’ll always do what I feel is in the best interest of the people,” said Scales, who finished second. “My family, we make those decisions together. We did what we needed to do, because I am passionate about the city I live in. I have no regrets.”
In other races late Tuesday night a few races appeared to be headed to runoffs – including District 4 Councilman William Parker – after no candidates appeared they would secure more than 50 percent of the vote. Below is a final unofficial vote tally in the different races:
AL.com’s Roy S. Johnson contributed to this report.
