In one of the closest elections in recent memory, Tuscaloosa City Councilwoman Sonya McKinstry has lost her bid for a third term to represent District 7.
Unofficial results have McKinstry 25 votes short of challenger Cassius Lanier, a local businessman behind the Lanier Automotive Co., who earned 749 votes to McKinstry s 724.
Meanwhile, District 5 incumbent Kip Tyner earned his seventh term on the council by defeating challenger and University of Alabama student Sam Badger by a vote of 1,221 to 290.
District 2 incumbent Raevan Howard and Norman Crow, a former city Board of Education member who was vying for the City Council s District 3 seat, earned enough votes to win their council seats outright over multiple opponents.
UpdatedTue, Jan 26, 2021 at 7:09 pm CT
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Tuscaloosa s municipal elections will be held on March 2. (Ryan Phillips, Tuscaloosa Patch)
TUSCALOOSA, AL Tuesday at 5 p.m. represented the qualifying deadline for those seeking to appear on the ballot for the city of Tuscaloosa s municipal election on March 2.
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In summation, four of the seven seats on the Tuscaloosa City Council will see incumbents challenged, while Districts 1 and 3 will see a new face sworn in. District 4 Councilor Lee Busby is the only incumbent on the council who did not have a candidate qualify to challenge him on the ballot.
As qualifying for Tuscaloosa’s municipal elections draws to a close, a third candidate has emerged seeking the mayoral seat.
Serena Fortenberry is a University of Alabama professor who became active in local politics in 2017, when she publicly opposed a rezoning that would have allowed a fast- food restaurant to open just blocks from her west Tuscaloosa home.
Now, she has gone from concerned resident to just the third woman to launch a concerted bid for the Tuscaloosa mayor’s seat since the 1970s.
Judy Moody launched an unsuccessful bid for the seat in 1976 following the death of longtime mayor Snow Hinton. Moody made it to a runoff out of 20 candidates before losing to eventual mayor Ernest “Rainy” Collins, who went on to secure a full, four-year term the following year.