Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed won reelection Tuesday evening, defeating three opponents for the mayoral spot, according to unofficial election results.
Reed was first elected in a landslide vote in 2019, becoming the capital city’s first Black mayor. He succeeded Todd Strange, who was mayor for a decade and did not seek re-election.
With 40 of 41 precincts reporting, Reed received 57% of the vote this year, unofficial results showed. As of 9 p.m., Reed had received 22,830 votes.
“These last four years have been a combination of the most rewarding and the most challenging in my life, but the honor of serving you and working on the behalf of this great city far outweighs any dilemma, any challenge that we have had,” Reed said in a victory speech broadcast on WSFA 12 News, calling his tenure a “redemptive” experience.
Reed said he will continue to improve public services and economic opportunities for Montgomery residents, including policies like guaranteed income — efforts that, he said, would need cooperation and buy-in from community members.
“If you’re interested in the old Montgomery, that old Montgomery ain’t coming back,” he said. “That old Montgomery is gone, never to be seen again.”
Reed defeated candidates Barrett Gilbreath and Marcus McNeal, two local entrepreneurs, and Victorrus Felder, a 15-year correctional officer. All three opponents heavily focused on reducing crime in the city.
Gilbreath, a real-estate investor who recently returned back to Montgomery after moving to Florida during the height of the pandemic, received 39% of the vote — 15,605 votes.
Gilbreath has pushed to hire more police officers, fund after-school programs, improve city services and invest in community centers.
Felder received 3.32% of the vote and McNeal 1%. Some 40,224 of the city’s 138,724 registered voters cast ballots.
Reed was elected as Montgomery County’s first African American probate judge in 2012, and the youngest person to hold the position. He is the son of Joe Reed, the longtime leader of the Alabama Democratic Conference.
Reed’s initial platform focused on increased funding for local public schools, neighborhoods, public safety and transportation. During his tenure, Reed led a historic initiative to raise property taxes, has helped bring 2,000 new jobs to the city, and has tripled the number of city contracts with minority owned businesses, according to his campaign website.
In 2020, Reed received the Dr. Martin Luther King Leadership Award for Governmental Service. He was also chosen as a New Deal Leader and is part of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative, a selective program meant to help mayors address complex issues in their communities.His contributions, however, have not come without some controversy.
A Montgomery activist recently sued Reed for defamation over his comments about a series of recordings that were leaked in February. In the series of audio clips, Reed purportedly says that support from white voters is more important for his political survival – and that “white money” is key to Montgomery’s economy.
In a public response, Reed said the recordings were “heavily edited” and came from a conversation three years ago with a community member amid 2020 protests against police brutality. In a statement, Reed accused the community member, whom he did not name, of attempting to extort him.
