Former Birmingham Mayor William Bell will run again for mayor against Mayor Woodfin

Posted: Feb 2, 2021 / 03:26 PM CST / Updated: Feb 2, 2021 / 03:26 PM CST

Birmingham, Ala., Mayor William Bell talks to the Associated Press, Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016, in Birmingham. Bell says Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore’s order to state probate judges not to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples is a black eye on the state.” Moore stood firm Thursday in his position that the state’s probate judges should not issue marriage licenses to gay couples, a stance he insisted is not in defiance of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling last summer that effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Former Birmingham Mayor William Bell announced Tuesday his plans to run again for mayor of Birmingham against incumbent Randall Woodfin.

It has been four years since Woodfin won the last mayoral election, unseating Bell, who served as mayor of Birmingham from 2010 to 2017. In an interview with CBS 42 News during the 2017 mayoral race, Bell said he believed he had moved the city forward. He was first elected in 2009 in a special election to replace former Mayor Larry Langford who was convicted of corruption and sentenced to a 15-year prison sentence that same year.

Bell was re-elected to a second term in 2011, which was shortened to a two-year term in order for it to align with a revised city election schedule. Bell won election to his first four-year term on August 27, 2013. Woodfin would ultimately win the mayoral position against Bell in a runoff Oct. 3, 2017.

Bell and Woodfin have more company in the fight for the mayoral seat. Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales and Birmingham businessman Chris Woods have also announced their run for mayor.

The deadline for qualifying for the race is July 10. The election will be held Aug. 24.