A man who was barred from taking office after he ran unopposed for mayor of a small Alabama town five years ago has now been elected in its first contested mayoral race since 1965.
Patrick Braxton defeated Laird Cole, 66-26, on Tuesday in Newbern, Ala., a town of about 130 people that sits 75 miles southwest of Birmingham.
The town of Newbern had not held mayoral elections since the 1960s, instead allowing mayors to pick their successors. That led to a succession of white mayors in a town where a majority of residents are Black.
Mr. Braxton is Black; his opponent, Mr. Cole, is white.
In 2020, Mr. Braxton, a handyman and volunteer firefighter, formally filed paperwork to run for mayor, and was unopposed. But the town’s incumbent leaders put up roadblocks to his assuming office, including changing the locks at town hall and denying Mr. Braxton access to documents and records, he said.
“Every time I turned a corner, there was another obstacle in my way,” Mr. Braxton told The New York Times last year.
Mr. Braxton sued, and the town agreed to a settlement in federal court that finally allowed him to become mayor in August of last year. The settlement also included a promise to hold an election this year.
“The people came out and spoke, and voted,” Mr. Braxton said in a statement. “Now, there ain’t no doubt what our residents want for this town. As a community, it’s time to move forward and continue to grow.”
Because of the unusual circumstances, the tiny town’s election drew outsize attention. Mr. Braxton drew an endorsement from the Southern Poverty Law Center Action Fund, a nonprofit focused on racial justice issues. “The fact that Newbern will for the first time in decades hold municipal elections is thanks in large part to Mayor Braxton’s refusal to allow his constituents to be disenfranchised,” said Madison Hollon, program manager of political campaigns for the group.
Among Mr. Braxton’s accomplishments in his first year in office, the local news site Capital B reported, were bringing a mobile grocery truck to town and working to improve sewers and sanitation.
Kitty Bennett contributed research.
Victor Mather, who has been a reporter and editor at The Times for 25 years, covers sports and breaking news.
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