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Mobile Area Association of REALTORS®

2021 Municipal Election Results

In case you missed it…

The city has been buzzing with all of the news. Three of the seven Mobile City Council races will be decided by a run-off election.

In a big win, Mayor Sandy Stimpson won for a third term in office. He has been Mayor since his election in 2013.  Born in Mobile, Stimpson graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Alabama in 1975.  Stimpson has said he started his 40-year business career in his family’s lumber manufacturing business working his way up to Executive Vice-President.  Among the many accomplishments cited by Stimpson during his tenure as Mobile’s Mayor, is what he calls the reform of the city’s financial outlook by reducing debt and liabilities by more than $300 million while providing raises for city workers and the buying of new technology such as up-to-date fire trucks and new police body cameras.   The Mayor says he has ended stop and frisk policing in favor of a policy that, he says,  targets criminals, not communities.  The Mayor’s stance on curbing violent crime is to propose $5.1 million in new strategies involving technology, community-based policing strategies and education.  Stimpson has cited the creation of a downtown international airport, the development of the largest public waterfront on Mobile Bay at Brookley as well as on-going road resurfacing projects and the creation of new bike paths, walking trails and greenways as accomplishments since taking office.

The District 1 seat, which had been left open by Fred Richardson when he decided to run for mayor, brought in some competition between Minister Cory Penn, former judge, Herman Thomas, and Chamyne Fortune Thompson. Cory Penn was the top finisher, with 34 percent of the vote. It appears he will face Herman Thomas, who earned 27 percent of the vote.

In District 2, incumbent council member, Levon Manzie, will face former council member, William Carroll in a run-off. Manzie ended up with 48 percent of the vote, while Carroll had 23 percent.

District 3 council member, CJ Small won his re-election by a landslide with 90 percent of the vote. C. J. Small is the Vice President of the Mobile City Council and is a native and resident of Mobile, AL. He is 1997 graduate of John S. Shaw High School and is a member of the Mt. Sinai Missionary Baptist Church.  He has a degree from Gupton-Jones College in Atlanta, GA in 2000 and a Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources from Faulkner University in Montgomery, AL in 2008.He is the owner of Small’s Mortuary & Cremations Services, serving the Alabama Gulf Coast with locations in Mobile, Theodore and Fairhope, AL. He is a member of the Alabama Funeral Director & Morticians Association where he is the District 1 Representative, a member of the National Funeral Directors & Morticians Association, He serves on the Board of Directors for Mobile Civic Center, City of Mobile Citizen’s Budget & Finance Advisory Committee and Oakdale Community Service Club.  He is a member of the  100 Black Men of Greater Mobile and a member of the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association where he was also King of the Mobile Area Mardi Gras Association in 2008. He is the Chaplain of the MLK Adult Mardi Gras Association, a Partner in Education with the Mobile Public School System.

The District 4 seat will go to newcomer, Ben Reynolds who defeated Fred Rettig with 65 percent of the vote to Rettig’s 35 percent. Reynolds was endorsed by John Williams, the retiring District 4 council member. Reynolds is a graduate of Theodore High School with a Bachelors of Business Administration from Faulkner University.  He owns a small insurance claims business that specializes in flood adjusting through the National Flood Insurance Program. Reynolds says he wants to do  his part to ensure his children choose Mobile as their home when they have the opportunity to do so.

Another easy win, was for the incumbent in District 5, Joel Daves who earned 78 percent of the vote. Retired in 2013 in banking.  In 2013 he was elected for the District 5 place on the Mobile City Council and was re-elected in 2017. Daves is a graduate of Sewanee, his law degree at Stetson University College of Law and graduated in banking at the Stoner Graduate School of Banking in Delaware.  Very interested in the fine arts and the theater, Daves has been a board member on a variety of Fine Arts and Symphonies throughout Alabama. As chairman for institutions such as United Way of Southwest Alabama, and the Mobile Area Education Association and the Chamber of Commerce, Daves has helped raise millions of dollars for economic and workforce development activities.

The District 6 seat was also up for grabs, when council member Bess Rich decided not to run for re-election. This race will also be heading to a run-off between Scott Jones & Josh Woods.

In District 7, Gina Gregory won another term in the City Council with 80 percent of the vote over her challenger.

The run-off election will be held on Tuesday, October 5th, so please exercise your right to vote and bring a friend with you to the polls. And remember, if you have any questions about your district, please reach out to your local GAD, anniee@gcmls.com.