HUNTSVILLE– Mayor Tommy Battle was overwhelmingly reelected on Tuesday, garnering 78% of the vote in the Rocket City.
The win ensures Battle a fourth term as mayor of Alabama’s fastest growing big city, a job he first secured in 2008.
A socially distanced, mask-wearing crowd of approximately 100 supporters gathered at the EarlyWorks Museum in Huntsville to celebrate Battle’s victory.
“I want to say thank you, thank you to the people of Huntsville for their support, thank you for the vote of confidence,” the mayor told his supporters around 8:45 p.m. CT.
“We’ve added 30,000 jobs. We’ve had $8 billion in economic investment. We’ve been able to do those kind of things on a balanced budget, having one of the best credit ratings of any city in the United States,” Battle continued.
“A lot of people talk about us growing, and the City of Huntsville growing to be the largest city in the state of Alabama,” he remarked.
“That is just a number, we want to be the best,” he declared.
Battle was challenged from the left by Andy Woloszyn and Maurice Shingleton Jr, two local activists who did not raise much money or gain traction with the public. Also running was Jackie Reed, a perennial candidate in Huntsville elections.
Woloszyn placed second in the race, earning 10% of the vote.
Candidates for municipal elections in Huntsville do not run as members of a political party, but Battle is well known as a Republican. He unsuccessfully sought the GOP nomination for governor in 2018.
State Rep. Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville), a longtime friend and ally of the mayor, attended the election results party. Yellowhammer News asked Reynolds what he thought drove Battle’s continued electoral success on the local level.
“The hard work and dedication he’s put into that office over the years,” Reynolds responded.
The mayor has been heavily involved in several economic development projects in recent years that have brought significant growth to Huntsville, including the massive Mazda-Toyota Manufacturing plant on the city’s western edge.
Battle told Yellowhammer News that his top priority for his fourth term would be workforce development.
“We’ve got to bring in the workers to fill the jobs that we’ve already brought into the community,” he commented.
“Workforce development is two things. It is going out and recruiting people to come into your community, and taking people in your community and training them,” he continued.
The mayor also mentioned infrastructure, parks, greenways and other quality of live improvements as priorities.
During his speech thanking supporters, emotion crept into Battle’s voice as he talked about his father, who died in the last year, and his wife Eula, who is undergoing treatments for cancer.
Yellowhammer asked Battle campaign manager Joanna White about the choice to campaign diligently when most observers did not see the race as competitive.
“This is my third campaign to work for Tommy, and what is so neat about him is that he never ever takes it for granted. He always runs a full on race no matter what,” she said.
State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) attended the Battle election party. Yellowhammer asked him what fostered Battle’s success among voters.
“I think he owes it to his track record, what he has done over the last 12 years,” the state senator responded.
Givhan is also an attorney at the firm Wilmer & Lee, and he has been a part of the legal team involved with several economic development deals involving the City of Huntsville.
“I have been delighted to be a part of some of the projects he has worked on. I have had the opportunity to see him in the negotiating room, and see him participating. Not just as a wallflower, not just as an observer, but as an active participant,” he continued.
“His business and real estate background has given him a wonderful insight into how to do things, and his diversification of our economy has been great and really unheard of,” Givhan concluded.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: [email protected] or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
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