From left: Brian Gunn, Sonja Smith and LaTonya Tate.
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By Barnett Wright and Ryan Michael | The Birmingham Times
Birmingham voters on Tuesday filled the remaining seats on the 2025-2029 City Council by ousting an incumbent, re-electing one member and filling the panel’s only remaining vacant seat.
The 2025 municipal elections wrapped up with runoff elections in Districts 4, 8 and 9 that saw all the winners earn at least 55 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results.
In District 4, Brian Gunn, a political newcomer and Birmingham Planning Commission committee member defeated incumbent J.T. Moore, with 676 votes, or 67.7 percent to Moore’s 323 votes or 32.3 percent.
In District 8, Birmingham Board of Education member Sonja Smith defeated April Myers Williams, a former four-term Board of Education member with 867 votes, or 55.6 percent to Williams’ 692 votes, or 44.39 percent.
In District 9 seat, current Public Safety Chair LaTonya Tate defeated former Councilmember John Hilliard in a rematch from the 2021 with 921 votes, or 55.6 percent to Hilliard’s 734 votes, or 44.35 percent.
Gunn is the only candidate this election cycle to unseat an incumbent Birmingham City Council member. At his Election Night Watch Party Tuesday night in the Woodlawn Marketplace, Gunn pointed to his ground game for the decisive victory.
“We’ve knocked on 7,000 doors from February through October. We made more than 5,000 phone calls, and we’ve been consistently in touch with community members … and I think that personal touch has made all the difference,” said Gunn, who also picked up key endorsements from Joseph Holt and Darryl Williams – two of his former opponents in the general election.
The incoming councilor said he already knows what some of his priorities will be. “As you look around District Four, there are so many vacant lots,” he said. “How can we make sure that we’re holding those property owners that are neglecting their properties accountable?”
District 4 includes Airport Highland, Brownsville Heights, Collegeville, East Birmingham, Harriman Park, Inglenook, Killough Springs, Norwood, Roebuck and Woodlawn.
In District 8, Smith picked up pivotal endorsements from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin; Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson and state Reps. Travis Hendrix and Kelvin Datcher.
Other endorsements came from labor and community groups that included CWA Local 3902, LiUNA Local 559 and the Jefferson County Progressive Democratic Council, Inc. Since the runoff, she has added endorsements from the Birmingham Association of Realtors, among others.
She also spent weekends and election day knocking on doors often with Woodfin by her side.
District 8 includes Belview Heights, Bush Hills, Central Park, College Hills, Ensley, Ensley Highlands, Fairview, Graymont, Rising West-Princeton and Tuxedo Heights
In District 9, current Public Safety Chair LaTonya Tate campaigned on her violence reduction efforts including hospital-based violence intervention programs, mentorships, community-facing organizations and investments in youth programming.
She stressed on the campaign trail that homicides in Birmingham were down nearly 50 percent from record breaking levels set last year and many point to the violence prevention programs she brought to the city.
When Tate took on the role as Chair of Public Safety [in 2021] she looked beyond Birmingham and studied proven anti-violence models from cities like Newark and Baltimore, she said. Among the programs she introduced were One Hood, an initiative that trains certified “violence interrupters” and “credible messengers” community members, often formerly justice-involved, who mediate conflict and offer alternatives to at-risk youth, a program she said came from Newark, New Jersey.
Gunn and Smith will join Clinton Woods, District 1; Hunter Williams, District 2, Josh Vasa, District 3; Darrell O’Quinn, District 5; Crystal Smitherman, District 6 and Tate on the council.
The Birmingham Board of Education also had 3 runoffs.
Yamika Foy won the District 9 seat, defeating Eric Hall, with 69 percent of the vote, 1,126-485.
Terry Michal and incumbent Neonta Williams were vying for District 2 on the school board. Williams had 53 percent at 226-197.
The race between Pamela Bass and Antwon Womack for the vacant District 8 seat had Womack ahead by 25 votes 755-730.
