Selfies and Handshakes and Smiles, Oh My! Birmingham Mayor’s Race Heats Up
McAlpine Park in Ensley was a sea of green and gold P.D. Jackson-Olin High School alumni Saturday. But there were also lots of people wearing William Bell or Randall Woodfin shirts. The two mayoral candidates were there shaking hands, posing for selfies, and trolling for votes.
Bell, the incumbent mayor, faces Woodfin, a member of the Birmingham school board. Bell trailed Woodfin in the August 22 municipal election.
In the park, Bell said he had to get out and talk with voters to remind them of his accomplishments as mayor.
“I’m not one to get out and beat my chest and say, ‘ look at what I’ve done,’” Bell said. “You have to tell folks the things you’ve done, because sometimes you even forget, yourself.”
He talked about the new fire station and library in nearby Pratt City and his plans for revitalizing downtown Ensley.
Quinton Cheatham of Mason City said he wants a mayor who is committed to repairing the roads and getting rid of abandoned houses and overgrown lots.
“Mayor Bell has been cleaning up the city,” Cheatham says.
Bell, wearing a long-sleeved shirt and sweating, was busy posing for photos with the Jackson Olin Class of 1977.
At 1:30 p.m., Woodfin was at the picnic in a shirt from an earlier and more formal event. Still he worked the crowd, sweat pouring, but smile in place. His goal? Greet everyone in the park. He weaved his way from tent to tent shaking hands, posing for pictures and talking about issues.
One woman came up to talk to him about abandoned houses in Pratt City.
“You all have been neglected for along time,”Woodfin told her, “every year, every month, every week, every day. I’ve been telling people over and over, ‘Look either we need an election ever year or we need new leadership.’”
Kevin Ray, 24, of west Birmingham, says he likes that Woodfin is a young man with good ideas. “His platform is about investing in our infrastructure throughout the year, not just at election time,” he said.
The Birmingham runoff is Oct. 3. In addition to the mayor’s race, there are also runoffs in three city council races and several Birmingham school board races.
U.S. ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates win Olympic silver, in a stunning upset
Chock and Bates, four-time Olympians, were heavily favored for gold. But they lost by less than two points to a French duo who has been clouded by controversy involving their former partners.
AI brings Supreme Court decisions to life
Like it or not, the justices are about to see AI versions of themselves, speaking words that they spoke in court but that were not heard contemporaneously by anyone except those in the courtroom.
These monks’ walk for peace captivated Americans. It ends this week
A group of Buddhist monks walked from Fort Worth, Texas, to Washington, D.C., in the name of peace. The 108-day pilgrimage captivated Americans.
The airspace around El Paso is open again. Why it closed is in dispute
The Federal Aviation Administration abruptly closed the airspace around El Paso, only to reopen it hours later. The bizarre episode pointed to a lack of coordination between the FAA and the Pentagon.
‘Dawson’s Creek’ star James Van Der Beek has died at 48
Van Der Beek played Dawson Leery on the hit show Dawson's Creek. He announced his colon cancer diagnosis in 2024.
A Jan. 6 rioter pardoned by Trump was convicted of sexually abusing children
A handyman from Florida who received a pardon from President Trump for storming the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was convicted on state charges of child sex abuse and exposing himself to a child.
