Patrick Braxton, 57, the first Black mayor of Newbern, a rural town in Hale County, has been officially reinstated to his office after a four-year battle.
In 2020, Braxton became mayor of the tiny, majority-Black town, which hadn’t held a true election, most people guessed, for 60 years. But local white officials refused to let Braxton use his office.
Now, a settlement in federal court aims to set a precedent for small-town politics. And Newbern has pledged to hold its first-ever regularly scheduled municipal election in 2025.
“Stuff like this can’t keep happening in small towns. We’re putting our foot down, setting the boundary for anything else like this happening in the future,” Braxton told AL.com.
In 2022, Braxton sued the town’s former white administration for keeping him out of office. The case moved from a local court to federal court. He accused former Mayor Hayward Stokes III and town council members of violating a section of the Voting Rights Act.
The town’s white residents treated elected offices as “hand me down” positions, according to the lawsuit. They simply appointed each other to roles of mayor and councilmembers. For decades.
Braxton, a contractor and volunteer firefighter, decided to run for office. He said over the years, he had bought and hung state flags, gave out hand sanitizer, face masks and food to the community members who were struggling through the pandemic. And since he was the only candidate to qualify for the election, he got the seat.
“I just wanted to make the town better and I was already doing so much stuff trying to help the people in the community,” Braxton said.
But according to the lawsuit, after he won the election, he never received access to manage the town’s finances, was barred from opening the municipal mailbox and was locked out of the town hall after the locks had been changed multiple times.
Hayward Stokes III, who is white and had served as mayor since 2008, held a special-called election that handed him back the office.
For the past four years, the town has been in a stalemate, with both Braxton and Stokes calling themselves the mayor.
The settlement, reached on July 23 and signed off on by a United States district judge, officially reinstated Mayor Braxton.
“This settlement is a critical win for the residents of Newbern, who after decades of enduring conflict and strife in attempting to exercise their fundamental right to vote, will now be able to make their voices heard,” said Morenike Fajana, senior counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, which represented Braxton and other plaintiffs, in a news release.
Braxton’s inauguration is set for Aug. 3. He said his first act as mayor will be holding a council meeting.
“It feels good to point out the wrongdoing,” Braxton said.
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