Randall Woodfin facts for kids

Randall Woodfin (born May 29, 1981) is an American lawyer and politician who is the 34th and current mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, after winning the October 3, 2017, runoff against incumbent William A. Bell. He previously served as president of the Birmingham City School Board (2013–2015) and as a city attorney of Birmingham from 2009–2017.

Early life and education

Woodfin was born and raised in North Birmingham and Crestwood neighborhoods. He attended North Birmingham Elementary School, Putnam Middle School, and Shades Valley High School. He graduated from Morehouse College, where he majored in political science and was student government association president. Woodfin went on to earn a J.D. from the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.

Career

Early career

Between college and law school, Woodfin worked for the Birmingham City Council, the Mayor's Office Division of Youth Services, and the Jefferson County Committee on Economic Opportunity. He ran unsuccessfully for the Birmingham Board of Education's District 3 seat in 2009, placing third in a four-person race.

In 2009, Woodfin became an assistant city attorney for Birmingham, a position he held until he was elected mayor in 2017.

In 2013, he ran for a seat on the school board again, this time successfully. He was appointed president of the board two months after being elected; he held that position until 2015 and remained on the board until 2017.

..... He is a former board member of Birmingham Change Fund, American Red Cross, Birmingham Education Foundation, Birmingham Cultural Alliance, S.T.A.I.R., and past president of the Birmingham chapter of the Morehouse College Alumni Association. He is a graduate of Leadership Birmingham class of 2014, Leadership Alabama class of 2016, and was a featured speaker at TEDx Birmingham 2017.

Woodfin was the Alabama state director for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

2017 mayoral campaign

Woodfin announced his run for Birmingham mayor in August 2016, challenging incumbent candidate William Bell along with 10 other candidates. In the general election, held on August 22, 2017, Woodfin won 40% of the vote, triggering a runoff election with Bell, who placed second. Woodfin won the October 3 runoff with 58.95% of the vote, becoming the city's youngest mayor in over 120 years.

During the campaign, Woodfin criticized Bell's failure to improve Birmingham residents' quality of life and promised to focus his administration on revitalization of the city's 99 neighborhoods.

Bell criticized Woodfin for receiving out-of-state contributions during the campaign; Woodfin argued that it was the only way to combat the incumbent candidate's sizable local donor base.

Woodfin received support from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, who recorded a robo-call telling voters that Woodfin would fight for Medicare for All. Our Revolution President Nina Turner visited Birmingham twice to campaign for Woodfin.

As mayor

Woodfin speaks at a town hall meeting in January 2019.

Woodfin promised throughout the campaign to conduct a forensic audit on city finances, but upon taking office instead conducted a performance audit.

In March 2018, Woodfin's transition committee announced it had discovered that the city's pension fund had been consistently underfunded for more than 15 years, endangering the city's credit rating and retirement benefits for thousands of city employees. Woodfin increased funding to the pension fund by $2.9 million in the city's 2019 budget, and by $5.2 million in the city's 2020 budget — which Woodfin's administration claimed fully met the city's obligation to the fund for the first time in more than a decade.

Woodfin's administration has drawn criticism for a perceived lack of transparency, with AL.com columnist Kyle Whitmire calling Woodfin's attempts to block public information requests "stalling and stonewalling" and a violation of his campaign promises to increase transparency.

Neighborhood revitalization

In his first two years in office, Woodfin budgeted $13 million for street resurfacing, $2.5 million toward clearing overgrown lots, and $6.5 million toward demolishing dilapidated structures. Woodfin has argued that his predecessor's policy regarding urban blight was "not as aggressive as it needed to be" and that it would be a "priority" for his administration.

Food deserts

One of Woodfin's early campaign promises was to address food deserts in the city.

Confederate monuments

For years, Birmingham residents had been requesting Birmingham take down the Confederate monument located in the park across the street from Birmingham City Hall. Due to years of inaction, and after the murder of George Floyd, residents took to the street to try and take down the monument themselves. The next morning Woodfin ordered the removal of the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Linn Park to try and prevent another protest. He also filed an executive order banning the ability for residents to protest in any public park. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed suit against the city of Birmingham for violating the Alabama Memorial Preservation Act.

National politics

He endorsed Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, despite having received Bernie Sanders' endorsement during his 2017 mayoral race. Woodfin cited Biden's ability to "make sure down-ballot candidates can win" as a primary reason for his endorsement.

Woodfin was selected as one of seventeen speakers to jointly deliver the keynote address at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Political views

..... In a 2019 interview with The Root, Woodfin argued that "being a moderate does not equal status quo... I support a lot of things on the left but—if I’m being real—I also believe you gotta win."

When running for mayor of Birmingham in 2017, Woodfin promised to "fight to make Birmingham a sanctuary city." However, in 2018 he reneged on that promise and instead proposed to make Birmingham a "welcoming city."

Woodfin believes in climate change and in 2018 he signed the "Alabama Mayors for 100% Sustainable Energy Pledge" pledge by the GASP (Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution) to fulfill a campaign promise. In spite of the promise and pledge, the Woodfin administration failed to live up to them.

Personal life

He grew up with three siblings; his older brother Ralph was killed by gun violence in 2011. Woodfin's nephew Ralph Woodfin III was killed in August 2017. He is married and is Christian. He attends Sixth Avenue Baptist Church in Birmingham. He is a fan of Mannie Fresh, Dr. Dre, The Neptunes, and Big K.R.I.T.