Patrick Braxton, who was elected the first black mayor of Newbern in 2020, will officially be sworn in Saturday.
The small town’s former all-white mayor and city council fought Braxton to retain their positions.
“I didn’t know it was going to be a journey this hard to get this seat,” Braxton told Alabama Daily News recently.
Located about 40 miles west of Selma, Newbern has a population of about 133 people. When Braxton filed paperwork to run for mayor, he soon learned that then-Mayor Haywood ‘Woody’ Stokes III had failed to file to run for reelection, thereby handing the mayoral seat to Braxton by default.
Stokes, who is white, as was the entirety of the City Council, instead hastily organized a meeting to reappoint Stokes as mayor, and keep Braxton out of office.
“I went to city hall and found out my keys didn’t work, they had changed the locks on the doors,” Braxton told ADN, recounting his first realization that the town’s former leadership intended on fighting the results of the election.
“That’s when I began to realize I was going to have some problems.”
A settlement agreement, first proposed in June, was signed this week by District Judge Kristi DuBose, under which Braxton will officially be reinstated as mayor, and the plaintiffs, including Stokes, will admit to engaging in intentional discrimination and violating the Voting Rights Act.
Town officials had denied wrongdoing. Before agreeing to settle the case, the defendants maintained in court filings that Braxton’s claim to be mayor was “invalid.”
Braxton will also appoint new members to the city council, among them being Janice Quarles, who Braxton had originally tapped for the role back in 2020.
“I am just really elated, I am full of joy to see such a change and such a resolution because we have fought along with Mayor Braxton through this whole journey, and it has been a long journey for us all,” Quarles told ADN.
“It’s been long, it’s been hard, we’ve had disappointments, and at times it seemed as if we were forgotten, but we had a lot of legal help that stepped in and helped us to bring this whole thing to a resolution.”
After first realizing he had been locked out of town hall, Braxton said that Stokes – whom he worked alongside as a volunteer firefighter – ceased all communication with him.
“There really wasn’t any communication; both of us were on the same fire department, (but) when he realized I was the mayor, speaking just stopped, it was like he turned into a different person,” Braxton said.
“I started running into some problems with the Fire Department, because I got locked out of the Fire Department too.”
Braxton also said that divisions among the town, which is roughly 80% Black and 20% white, still persisted, and that some white members of the community that had been longtime residents recently announced their departure as the legal challenges looked to tip in Braxton’s favor.
“After May 6 when we came back from federal court in Mobile, we had five families jump up and sell their home to move out,” he said. “They’re close friends with the previous mayor, and I hate to say it, (but) it’s like once the leadership changed, they decided they wanted to move.”
Still, Braxton said that he was optimistic as to Newbern’s future, with his sights currently set on opening two new waste sewage systems, having opened one recently in May.
“It took time, but the progress and the ideas that I have for this town are still going to carry on, we’re going to still carry on the vision for the town and try to make the town a better place,” he said.
Braxton’s swearing-in ceremony will be held Satuday at 11 a.m. at Newbern City Hall, and will be organized in part by the Alabama Conference of Black Mayors.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.