Read Capital B’s continuous coverage on Newbern, Alabama, and the first Black mayor’s fight to serve.
The rural Alabama town that once ousted its first Black leader has now appointed its second Black mayor and first woman to hold the office.
The historic appointment of Barbara Patrick in Newbern on Feb. 1 comes after Patrick Braxton, the volunteer firefighter who was blocked from serving as the town’s first Black mayor, voluntarily resigned from his post on Dec. 31.
After Braxton won reelection in August, his opponent, Laird Cole, a white real estate agent, filed a civil complaint the following month to contest the municipal election.
In an email statement to Capital B, Bryan Taylor, counsel for Cole, said his client filed an election contest based on the allegation that Braxton “provided a false address inside the town’s corporate limits.”
“But, at the end of the day, before the matter could go to trial, a private settlement was reached, and Mayor Braxton resigned his position as mayor,” Taylor said.
Braxton denied the allegations.
Patrick, a community activist who serves on the Newbern Town Council, will now lead her town as mayor.
“The Town Council welcomes and supports their newly appointed Mayor,” a news release stated. “She humbly and willingly accepted this role and brings years of experience in community engagement, volunteerism and leadership.”
Capital B has reached out to Patrick but did not hear back.
The August election was the first in the town’s history since the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Patrick was already on the council after being handpicked by Braxton and was one of his earliest supporters.
In a Jan. 16 order, Hale County Circuit Court Judge Marvin W. Wiggins approved a private settlement agreement between Braxton and Cole and dismissed the case with prejudice.
Although Braxton did not disclose the details of the settlement, he said he believed he had a strong chance of winning the legal battle. However, he was reluctant to continue going to court, especially since he suspected that Cole would likely appeal the decision.
After all, he already spent years in court trying to secure the seat he won in 2020.
He said he will not let this “minor setback” keep him from working to improve his town, he told Capital B in a phone call.
“He [allegedly] spent $16,000 on lawyers and investigators trying to get me out of the seat,” Braxton said. “This little setback, it ain’t nothing compared to the first time, so you can’t break my spirit. You can’t bring me down like this.”
As a result of the judge’s order, the Town Council had to fill Braxton’s vacancy. Taylor, Cole’s attorney, explained that according to Alabama law, in an election contest challenging the residency of the winning candidate, the court does not have statutory authority to declare the other candidate the winner. Instead, if the court finds that the winning candidate was not qualified, the law requires that the court certify a vacancy and requests the town council elect a new mayor.
The council appointed Patrick on the first day of Black History Month.
“I support Mrs. Patrick 100%,” Braxton told Capital B. “She’s had my back.”
In a public statement, Cole said he was the only qualified candidate for mayor and would be mayor today if his opponent had not “falsified his candidate papers.”
“Even though the court can’t put me in office today, this was an important case for election integrity and the rule of law,” Cole said.
Stacked odds
In 2020, Braxton set out to do something no other Black person had successfully done: become mayor of his hometown. For decades, there had never been an election in the town. Instead, the mantle has been treated as a “hand-me-down” by the small percentage of white residents.
Braxton challenged the system. He was the only person to submit his statement of candidacy, and as a result, he became the first Black mayor of the town.
After Braxton was sworn in as Newbern’s first Black mayor, the majority-white Town Council locked him out of the town hall and reappointed themselves to their positions after ordering a special election that no one knew about, according to court documents. He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2023 accusing town officials of conspiring to deny his civil rights and his position because of his race. The next year, he won in court. The judge reinstated him and ordered the town to hold regular elections.
During the one year Braxton served, he set his sights on improving the health and well-being of Newbern’s residents. They partnered with the Equal Justice Initiative to bring a mobile grocery truck to the town, which does not have a grocery store. The only store in town, the Mercantile, closed in 2024. The effort with EJI helped bring fresh produce and groceries to dozens of residents at discounted prices.
The council has also started working with the University of Alabama, Auburn University, and a host of other universities and organizations to design a modern sewer system to address the town’s decades-long wastewater and sanitation issues.
The sewer system remained one of the major disputes between his administration and white residents, including Cole, his election rival.
Cole sued the town and others, alleging the project is illegally dumping untreated sewage onto his residential property.
“That show you how racist the town is. They don’t want the sewer system, talking about, ‘Town don’t need changes’,” Braxton said. “The town do need to grow.”