2007 Birmingham, Alabama mayoral election

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2007 Birmingham, Alabama mayoral election

 2003 October 9, 2007 2009–10 (special) 
 
Candidate Larry Langford Patrick C. Cooper Bernard Kincaid
Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan Nonpartisan
Popular vote 26,230 15,396 4,234
Percentage 50.33% 29.54% 8.12%

Mayor before election

Bernard Kincaid
Nonpartisan

Elected mayor

Larry Langford
Nonpartisan

The 2007 Birmingham, Alabama mayoral election was held on October 9, 2007, to elect the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. Incumbent Mayor Bernard Kincaid ran for re-election to a third term.[1] However, amid rising crime rates, Kincaid faced a difficult re-election campaign.[2]

County Commissioner Larry Langford, who previously ran for Mayor in 1979; attorney Patrick Cooper; former interim Mayor William A. Bell; and City Councilwomen Carole Smitherman and Valerie Abbott emerged as Kincaid's leading competitors. In the election, Langford narrowly won a majority of the vote, receiving 50.3 percent, and avoiding the need for a runoff election.[3]

However, Cooper, who placed second with 30 percent of the vote, declined to concede, noting, "There are some irregularities."[3] Cooper filed a legal challenge to the results, arguing that at the time of the election, Langford was not a legal resident of the city.[4] Cooper's lawsuit was dismissed, and he initially appealed it to the Alabama Supreme Court, seeking to have the case heard on an expedited schedule.[5] However, he dismissed the challenge on December 17, 2007, saying, "I think I was right, but sometimes you must subordinate what you think is right for what is best for the city."[6]

However, Langford did not serve out his full term as Mayor. He was indicted by federal prosecutors on December 1, 2008, on bribery charges,[7] and he was convicted of sixty separate counts of bribery-related charges on October 28, 2009, resulting in his automatic removal from office.[8]

Candidates

References

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