Former Birmingham Mayor William Bell officially launched on Monday his campaign to take back the office he held from 2010 through 2017.
Bell, 71, was prevented from earning a third term in office when Randall Woodfin, then-president of the Birmingham City School Board, beat him at the ballot box in 2017.
In his nearly three-minute video announcement released Monday, Bell listed several serious problems he felt Birmingham was facing, including violence in neighborhoods and poorly managed finances.
“Clearly, we need an experienced hand to get us back on track,” Bell intones.
Though he never mentions Woodfin by name, Bell does not shy away from criticizing the man who ousted him in 2017.
“Four years of ineptitude and mismanagement has our city hurting and adrift,” Bell says in the video.
“The stakes are just too high for the current mayor to learn on the job. He is in over his head, and it shows,” continues Bell.
The announcement video includes images of Bell shaking hands with former President Barack Obama and President Joe Biden, two popular figures within the Democratic Party to which Bell belongs.
Other figures who have previously entered the Birmingham mayor’s race include Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales and businessman Chris Woods.
Woodfin has built a sizeable fundraising advantage over the three candidates seeking to unseat him, reporting over $1,000,000 cash on hand in his 2020 year-end finance report.
Bell’s campaign website, with information on his priorities for the city, can be accessed here.
Magic City residents head to the polls on Tuesday, August 24.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.
