Jefferson County Commissioner Lashundra Scales announced on Tuesday that she’s running for mayor of Birmingham. Scales ran against Woodfin in 2021, finishing second with 21% of the vote. Woodfin got 64%, avoiding a runoff.
ABC 33/40 released a full video of an interview with Scales at her kick-off event, where she said, "I am running for mayor of Birmingham because 47% of my commission district is Birmingham, and Birmingham is dying. We have to admit that.”
Going on to describe not just the current problems with violent crime, she said that under Woodfin’s watch, the legislature has taken over the Birmingham Water Works, while there has been legislation introduced to take control of the police department, further suggesting that the airport authority could come next.
“We have got to be serious about what it is that we're going to do, and we've got to do it. We can't just be on social media and convincing people that these things don't exist. We’ve gotta do the work," she said. "...I know that Birmingham can be a great place, we can go back to being number one, we can go back to having a quality of life, but it's going to require work, it's going to require a leader who is going to lead our community in the right direction."
According to her biography on the Jefferson County website, Scales served on the City of Birmingham, Alabama, District 1 from 2009-2018 before being elected to the County Commission.
“My city is still dying. I still live here. I'm still advocating for our citizens, but I recognize I am limited by county law to do anything in our city," Scales said at her kick-off.
Scales launched off her campaign at a blighted house explaining that residents of Birmingham deserve better, “We have a mass exodus of people leaving the city of Birmingham because they don't believe that they can raise their children here, educate their children here and more importantly blossom in a community where they live, and we've got to change that but it's going to require work,” she said.
She pointed out that the race will be about the candidates running on their records. She said that the voters, "don't want us talking about one another. They want us talking about solutions."
Many others have expressed interest in running for mayor, State Rep. Juandalynn Givan (D-Birmingham) has been the leading fundraiser of the challengers to incumbent Randall Woodfin, who is seeking another term.
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