MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Newbern Mayor Patrick Braxton, who took the position after a years-long, high-profile legal battle, resigned Friday after settling a challenge to his residency.
Laird Cole, whom Braxton defeated in an August 2025 election by a vote of 66-26, filed a civil complaint alleging that Braxton did not reside at the address he used on his official statement of candidacy and was therefore ineligible to run for and serve as mayor. Located about 40 miles west of Selma, Newbern has a population of just 133 people.
“Braxton does not now, and did not at the time of filing his Statement of Candidacy or at the time of the Election, reside at 144 Bryant Street in Newbern, or at any other address within the city limits of Newbern,” the complaint reads.
Braxton has denied these allegations, according to a press release from the lawyers representing Cole. The civil complaint was settled confidentially and dismissed by the Hale County Circuit Court, the release said.
Braxton, Newbern’s first Black mayor, first qualified to run for mayor in 2020 and became the small town’s mayor elect because he was the only candidate. But Braxton didn’t take office until 2024 because of efforts by town officials to stop him, according to a lawsuit he filed in 2023.
The lawsuit said the locks were changed on town hall and officials refused to give Braxton access to town bank accounts. The lawsuit further alleged that the outgoing council held a secret meeting to set up a special election and “fraudulently re-appointed themselves as the town council.”
A settlement agreement recognizing Braxton as mayor and requiring an election to take place in 2025 was signed in July 2024, and he was sworn in shortly after, The Associated Press previously reported.
Before Braxton’s reelection in 2025, the town hadn’t held an election since at least the 1960s. Instead, the outgoing mayor would appoint their successor, who would then appoint a new town council. This practice led to overwhelmingly white city councils and mayors in a majority Black town.
The town council, which Braxton appointed, will now have to fill the vacant mayor position per Alabama law. In the press release, Cole said he hopes the council will take an unbiased approach in appointing Newbern’s next mayor.
“I was the only qualified candidate for mayor, and I would be mayor today if my opponent had not falsified his candidate papers,” Cole said in the release. “Even though the court can’t put me in office today, this was an important case for election integrity and the rule of law.”