Alabama town's first Black mayor takes office after three-year legal battle

A tiny Alabama town’s first Black mayor was sworn in over the weekend, after a lawsuit settlement ended a long-running dispute over control of the town’s government.

Newbern Mayor Patrick Braxton won election in 2020, but said in his lawsuit that his predecessor locked him out of the town hall shortly after he took office three years ago. The tiny town of around 133 people lies about 40 miles west of Selma.

ABC News talked to Braxton and his attorney Leah Wong about being sworn in, how it felt to face this challenge, how Newbern's elections will be handled in the future and gearing up for his first city council meeting.

ABC NEWS: We're joined now by Mayor Braxton, along with his attorney, Leah Wong. Thank you both so much for joining us. Mayor, you now have the keys to town hall, access to the accounts and you were just sworn in over the weekend. How does it feel after such a long fight?

BRAXTON: I feel wonderful, I feel relieved.

ABC NEWS: How has the city reacted now that all of this has been settled?

BRAXTON: I think it was a sigh of relief and joy. And we put it behind us and try to move forward and, you know, keep, keep moving with the city as we go, day by day.

ABC NEWS: Well, now that you finally have the ability to do your job, what's on your agenda for the city? What’s first up?

BRAXTON: The first thing, that was Friday. But Thursday, I got a lot of citizens out and they helped, they volunteered. They cut grass, they picked up paper, and tried to clean up the city for the inauguration. And I think everybody wanted to work with me, to try and better the city and clean it up and make things beautiful for the town.

ABC NEWS: What's been the most difficult part of all this?

BRAXTON: The difficult part is, you got someone else calling himself the mayor and holding the keys, and knowing that he was not the mayor. That was the difficult part about it.

And then it … it seemed like a slap in the face that you've been elected, duly elected and someone else won’t step down and give up their seat and pass, pass everything over to you.

ABC NEWS: Did you ever think that you would see this day?

BRAXTON: I kind of feel, you know, if I didn’t see it at the end of this term. Next term, there was going to be an election somewhere and I was going to get my rightful seat. At the end of this term, you want a new election.

ABC NEWS: How will elections be handled going forward, to ensure this doesn't happen again?

WONG: I think it was really profound for everybody in the town to hear from the defendants themselves that, you know, there were no elections held for mayor or town council for decades. And moving forward, you know, Mayor Braxton gets a year to be … to fill out his term.

And then there are municipal elections next year, and he and his new town council will be in charge of holding the first ever elections in Newbern for mayor and town council. And it's also part of the settlement agreement that the court has jurisdiction over this case. So the court will see to it that elections are held next year at the very least.

ABC News: And is there anything going to happen to those who did prevent Mayor Braxton from actually fulfilling his, his duty?

WONG: Unfortunately, not under the law. You know, the judge dismissed these individual defendants and just held the town of Newbern as the only defendant. I think that, at the end of the day, we spoke with our plaintiffs, I know Mayor Braxton will speak to this. He and the plaintiffs just really wanted elections in the town more than anything. And I think it really speaks to how they always put the town first in this case.

ABC NEWS: And Mayor Braxton, we heard from your city council in that clip. Will they all be returning as well?

BRAXTON: Yes, they all will be returning back to the city.

ABC NEWS: And when is your first meeting?

BRAXTON: That's what, I've been talking with my lieutenant today, and we are trying to set up a date and time for my first meeting with my city council.

ABC NEWS: Mayor Patrick Braxton, attorney Leah Wong, we thank you both so much for your time. Really appreciate it.

WONG: Thank you.

BRAXTON: OK.