Woodfin was first elected in 2017, defeating incumbent mayor
William Bell in a
runoff. He was a
keynote speaker at the
2020 Democratic National Convention. During his first term, he faced criticism for
furloughing some city employees during the
COVID-19 pandemic, committing $3 million per year to the
Protective Stadium, creating a city-funded scholarship program, and replacing Birmingham's
police chief, though he has defended all the aforementioned decisions. In his reelection campaign, Woodfin primarily touted his accomplishments in renovating several dilapidated areas of the city and reforming the city's police department. A primary issue in the campaign was the results of the
2020 United States census, which showed that
Huntsville had surpassed Birmingham as Alabama's most populous city. Woodfin believed that Birmingham's population loss was due to a
brain drain, and pointed out that the aforementioned scholarship program could help keep high school graduates in the city. ==Candidates==