Most of Alabama’s municipalities held local elections on Tuesday, including key mayoral and city council contests.
In fact, municipal elections were held in every city in the state besides Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile, Auburn, Dothan, Tuscaloosa, Bessemer, Gadsden and Talladega.
Huntsville was the largest city to hold an election. As reported by Yellowhammer News, Mayor Tommy Battle routed his opponents, easily winning a fourth term.
Hoover was another sizable municipality with its mayor facing the voters. Mayor Frank Brocato handily won reelection to a second term, impressively beating back a challenge from City Council President Gene Smith.
Mayors were also reelected in Prattville, Guntersville, Cullman, Troy, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Madison, Anniston, Opelika, Pelham, Atmore, Greenville, Bay Minette, Wetumpka, Leeds, Athens, Boaz, Eufaula, Tallassee and Sylacauga, among others.
Runoffs will occur in their respective cities between: Mayor Tab Bowling of Decatur and William Matthews; Spanish Fort Mayor Mike McMillan and Rebecca Cornelius; and Florence Mayor Steve Holt and Andy Betterton. This should not be considered an all-inclusive list.
Meanwhile, mayoral incumbents were defeated in only a handful of cities.
In Irondale, Mayor Charles Moore was defeated by James Stewart. Fairhope Mayor Karin Wilson lost to Sherry Sullivan. Mayor Pete Wolff of Evergreen came up short to Stanley Stallworth. Scottsboro Mayor Robin Shelton was beaten by Jim McCamy. Homewood Mayor Scott McBrayer did not make a runoff from a three-person field.
Additionally, there were several mayoral races without incumbents involved. The results will see Jeff Mims of Clanton, Scott Brakefield of Alabaster, Ralph Hellmich of Foley, Mike Lockhart of Muscle Shoals, Brian Puckett of Helena and Richard Phillips of Oneonta become the chief executive in their respective cities, among other open-seat races.
Mayoral runoffs will also occur in Northport between Bobby Herndon and Dale Phillips, as well as in Daphne between Robin LeJeune and Steve Carey.
All runoffs will occur on October 6.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
