By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Randall Lee Woodfin on Tuesday took the oath for the third time as Birmingham mayor and the first time as a husband and father which heavily influenced his inaugural address inside the historic downtown Boutwell Auditorium.
After cradling his 15-month-old daughter, Love, up until he was sworn-in by Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Shanta Owens, the mayor left no doubt his priority for the city over the next four years.
“In my third term our children won’t just be a part of the agenda, they will be the ‘why’ that drives every decision we make,” he said.
The city’s 30th mayor was sworn in by Owens inside the Boutwell – after being inaugurated outside of City Hall in 2017 and 2021 — before an audience of all nine city councilors, his seven-member leadership team and former mayors William Bell and Bernard Kincaid. Also in attendance were former Sen. Doug Jones, who announced this week he’s running for Alabama governor, numerous elected officials, judges, employees and residents.
The inauguration lasted just under an hour, starting at 6 p.m. and ending 50 minutes later when Birmingham native and Grammy award-nominated R&B artist Ruben Studdard sang the Earth, Wind and Fire classic, “Shining Star.”
But this inauguration was far different for the 44-year-old mayor than in 2017, when he was first elected as one of the youngest mayors in the city’s history. With his wife and children seated on stage, Woodfin sounded this time as much a parent as he did elected official.
The mayor said, “Every decision we make as a city, every dollar we spend, every policy we pursue, every fight we pick, really comes down to one important question, ‘What does this mean for Birmingham’s children?’ Not as an afterthought, not as a priority among many, but as the lens through which we see everything. That is the commitment I am making tonight.”
Woodfin also introduced a plan titled “Cradle to Career,” he said, “where every child walks into school ready to thrive, where every baby born comes home to books and support, where every student sees a clear path from the classroom to college to career and where every young adult can see building themselves in the city that raised them. That’s not a dream. That’s a promise. That’s the Birmingham we’re building.“
He continued, “Cradle to Career is not just an early childhood initiative or an education program but an organizing principle for our entire city. [It] means we take responsibility for our children from the moment they are born until they are launched into a successful adulthood, not just in one program, not just in one neighborhood, but as an entire community working together every step of the way.”
The outcome of the 2025 mayoral election was Woodfin’s most dominant, with the incumbent receiving 75 percent of the votes and the distant-second-place candidate, Jefferson County Commissioner Lashunda Scales, receiving 14.58 percent.
“That’s not just a mandate,” Woodfin said. “That’s trust. And we will honor that trust by going bigger in our efforts to serve our children.”
While Woodfin’s past inauguration speeches were sprinkled with a range of topics, this one for the most part remained laser-focused on building a city that cares “for the whole child, the whole family, the whole community,” the mayor said. “You can’t build a pipeline to success on empty stomachs,” he added. “Our children can’t dream big if they are afraid. They deserve to play outside, to walk to school, and imagine their future without fear. That’s why public safety is not separate from our education work, it’s foundational to it.”
Under the leadership of Birmingham Police Chief Michael Pickett homicides in the city are down 50 percent and officer recruitment is up, said Woodfin. Aspiring to be the safest city in America is not a talking point, he said. “It’s a promise to every parent that their child’s potential won’t be cut short by violence, a promise to every child that they can watch their grades and not have to watch their backs.”
Some education programs currently in place will get bolstered, the mayor said. Already the Birmingham Promise has transformed more than 1,600 young lives with over $11 million in tuition assistance. “This isn’t just a number on a page,” he said. “That’s 1,600 young people who walked across the stage knowing their city saw them, their city believed in them and their city invested in them.”
Woodfin added that he wants more. “This term we’re going to strengthen the Promise,” he said. “We’re going to endow the Promise and we’re going to expand the Promise. We’re going to make sure students know about it earlier so they can plan their futures with confidence. We’re going to connect Promise scholars with more mentors and more internships and more career pathways right here in Birmingham.”
Birmingham, known for its Children’s Crusade that helped change the course of the 1963 Civil Rights Movement, “has always risen above circumstances from adversity to activism,” the mayor said. “Our children come from that legacy. They carry that same DNA … Everything we do is about preparing our children for that calling.”
“We are the city that literally changed America,” he said. “We are the city where courage met injustice and courage won. And now we are the city that will show America, we will show this country, what it means to truly invest in every child.”
The ceremony closed with a prayer from the Rev. John Cox, of Birmingham’s Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, who recognized city legends like A.G. Gaston and Fred Shuttlesworth.
“Let success be found in every little boy who believes his dreams are possible,” Cox prayed, “and every little girl who rises to great heights with grace and ease.”
