Countywide
Birmingham City Councilors unseat two JeffCo Commission incumbents
Lashunda Scales and Sheila Tyson will take office in November, leaving room for the city council to appoint two new members to their old seats.
Lashunda Scales (left) and Sheila Tyson (right). Photos courtesy of the Birmingham City Council.
Tuesday night’s runoff election results spelled a shake-up for both the Birmingham City Council and the Jefferson County Commission.
Lashunda Scales and Sheila Tyson, challengers for the District 1 and 2 commission seats, respectively, both defeated their incumbent opponents, meaning that they’ll take office in November — leaving their seats on the Birmingham City Council open.
Scales, who is currently city councilor for Birmingham’s District 1, defeated George Bowman for the commission’s District 1 seat with 59 percent of the vote. Tyson, councilor for Birmingham’s sixth district, won by a slightly narrower margin — 52.6 percent — over incumbent Sandra Little Brown for the commission’s District 2 seat.
Technically, Tuesday’s runoff election was for the Democratic nomination for the office — but there are no Republican candidates for Scales or Tyson to face in November.
Scales and Tyson will join Republican Steve Ammons as new members of the Jefferson County Commission come November. A race for the commission’s District 4 seat, between Republican incumbent Joe Night and Democrat challenger J.T. Smallwood, will be decided in November.
The Birmingham City Council will appoint replacements for Scales and Tyson after they take their new office in November; a special election will be held — likely in 2019 — to fill their seats permanently.
