Montgomery's Steven Reed makes history as city's first African American mayor

Sara MacNeil, Montgomery Advertiser Published 8:15 p.m. CT Oct. 8, 2019 | Updated 10:07 p.m. CT Oct. 8, 2019

Montgomery, a city where more than half the population is black and known as the birthplace of the civil rights movement, elected an African American to the highest position in municipal government for the first time in its 200-year history.

Steven Reed, the Montgomery County probate judge, on Tuesday beat television station owner David Woods in a runoff, gaining 32,918 votes to Woods' 16,010 votes with 47 precincts of 47 precincts, according to incomplete, unofficial returns. He will be sworn into office Nov. 12 at Montgomery City Hall.

Reed was the first African American elected as the county's probate judge in 2012. In 2015, he was the first probate judge in Alabama to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

"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."

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