Montgomery, Ala., known as the birthplace of the civil rights movement, has elected an African American to the office of mayor for the first time in its 200-year history. Montgomery County Probate Judge Steven Reed has defeated David Woods in a mayoral run-off election by a more than 2-to-1 voter margin.
Reed garnered 67 percent of the vote on his way to becoming the city’s first black mayor. He will replace the current mayor of Montgomery, Todd Strange, who chose not to run for reelection after a decade in office, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.
“This election has never been about me,” Steven Reed said in his victory speech. “This election has never been about just my ideas. It’s been about all the hopes and dreams we have as individuals and collectively in this city.
“Tonight isn’t the end, tonight is the beginning,” he added. “Tonight sent a signal, not just to all of us here in Montgomery, all of us in Alabama, it sent a signal throughout this country about what kind of community we are right now, not what we were.”
Reed will be sworn in on Nov. 12.
