Newbern, Alabama, mayor officially reinstated after judge signs settlement order

Patrick Braxton, the first Black mayor of Newbern, Alabama, was reinstated to office this week after a federal judge signed a court order authorizing a settlement agreement that ends Braxton’s lawsuit against the town for improperly ousting him from office.

“Plaintiff Braxton is the lawful mayor of Newbern effective the date of this order, and he shall hold all the powers, privileges, duties, responsibilities … authority, benefits and all other rights enjoyed by prior mayors and entrusted to the mayor of Newbern under Alabama state law,” the July 23 order states.

With the order, U.S. District Judge Kristi DuBose ended nearly four years of courtroom wrangling, political infighting and dissension that left the majority-Black town of 130 residents at a standstill, with Braxton ousted from office and the majority-white council as well as the previous mayor, who is also white, continuing to hold the reins of power.

“I am so grateful to finally get to serve the people of Newbern,” Braxton said. “This is a win for not only me, but for all of the residents of Newbern. After decades, we will finally be able to act as citizens to cast our ballots and actively participate in the democratic process.”

Braxton and the town reached an agreement that allows Braxton to serve out the remainder of his term in office. In the memorandum of understanding for the settlement, the town under the former administration admits to violating the constitutional rights of citizens by not holding elections. However, as part of the settlement, the former town officials will not face penalties and do not admit to any wrongdoing.

‘A powerful step’

The memorandum of understanding was sent to DuBose on June 21 and the judge filed the order approving the agreement in Mobile on the afternoon of July 23. With that filing, Braxton was immediately reinstated as mayor. Simultaneously, former Mayor Haywood Stokes III, four sitting council members and the town clerk were immediately removed from office. 

Braxton said he has a list of proposed council members that he will submit to Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey for appointment. He will gain access to the Newbern Town Hall, along with all records and accounts, immediately. Under DuBose’s order, he is required to hold a meeting with his council prior to Aug. 30.

If Ivey does not appoint Braxton’s preferred council candidates, Hale County Probate Judge Arthur Crawford will be required to set election dates for the council seats, to occur before Dec. 31, if possible.

The town’s first-ever regularly scheduled municipal election will occur in 2025, under the agreement.

“This agreement serves as a powerful step for the town to acknowledge decades of injustice and to have representative government where everyone gets to participate going forward,” said Leah Wong, voting rights defender and Prepared to Vote attorney at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which represented Braxton in his lawsuit.

Although Braxton is already the official Newbern mayor, the Alabama Council of Black Mayors (ACBM) will hold a ceremonial swearing-in for him on Aug. 3.

As part of the settlement, Braxton will hold a public town meeting at the Newbern Town Hall no later than Aug. 30 to provide residents with information about the agreement that ended the lawsuit.

“The next several weeks will usher in plenty of change for Newbern as the town navigates the waiting period between appointing council members and the transition of power, along with the changes expected to come once Mayor Braxton is at the table,” said Vickie Moore, CEO of the ACBM. “We have big challenges and big opportunities in front of us and looking forward to working with Mayor Braxton and the citizens of Newbern.”

Only candidate who qualified

In 2020, Braxton was sworn in as the first Black mayor of Newbern in its 170-year history. He ran unopposed, the only candidate who filed the necessary paperwork and fee to qualify for mayor. No one else, neither incumbent nor challenger, qualified to run for mayor or any of the five council seats in the election scheduled for Aug. 25, 2020.

Because he was the only candidate on the ballot, Braxton became mayor-elect on June 22, 2020, without a vote being cast. He was the only mayoral candidate to qualify for the 2020 municipal election. And he was the only candidate in the town’s history to qualify for any municipal office in Newbern.

Despite qualifying for office, Braxton and the Black volunteer town council he appointed were ultimately replaced by the white mayor and predominantly white council members who formerly held the seats, also without a vote ever being cast.

According to documents the SPLC has obtained over the last year through multiple public record requests, Newbern Town Attorney William Holmes arranged with the Alabama secretary of state’s office to move the date of the 2020 council seat elections back six weeks during the lame-duck period after Braxton was named mayor-elect.

Stokes and the four members of the town council who had served with him, all but one of whom are white, then filed the required forms and, because no one else qualified, they were surreptitiously sworn into office as council members 10 days after Braxton and his four volunteer council members swore their oaths.

In the interim, the members of the Stokes administration blocked the transfer of city financial accounts to Braxton, obstructed his access to the town’s mailbox, had the town’s records moved and, eventually, changed the locks on the town hall, records show.

After Braxton refused to meet with them to form a government, they voted to oust him, then voted for Stokes to resume his position as mayor.

The settlement negotiation took place a week after copies of the SPLC’s then-unpublished investigative stories were circulated to parties involved in the lawsuit for their response. Braxton has credited the SPLC with being instrumental in securing the agreement.

Picture at top: Patrick Braxton, who in 2020 became the first Black mayor-elect of Newbern, Alabama, stands in the parking lot at First Baptist Church in Newbern in August 2023. (Credit: Dwayne Fatherree)