The 2007 Birmingham, Alabama mayoral election was held on October 9, 2007, to elect the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. Incumbent Mayor Bernard Kincaid ran for re-election to a third term.[1] However, amid rising crime rates, Kincaid faced a difficult re-election campaign.[2]
County Commissioner Larry Langford, who previously ran for Mayor in 1979; attorney Patrick Cooper; former interim Mayor William A. Bell; and City Councilwomen Carole Smitherman and Valerie Abbott emerged as Kincaid's leading competitors. In the election, Langford narrowly won a majority of the vote, receiving 50.3 percent, and avoiding the need for a runoff election.[3]
However, Cooper, who placed second with 30 percent of the vote, declined to concede, noting, "There are some irregularities."[3] Cooper filed a legal challenge to the results, arguing that at the time of the election, Langford was not a legal resident of the city.[4] Cooper's lawsuit was dismissed, and he initially appealed it to the Alabama Supreme Court, seeking to have the case heard on an expedited schedule.[5] However, he dismissed the challenge on December 17, 2007, saying, "I think I was right, but sometimes you must subordinate what you think is right for what is best for the city."[6]
However, Langford did not serve out his full term as Mayor. He was indicted by federal prosecutors on December 1, 2008, on bribery charges,[7] and he was convicted of sixty separate counts of bribery-related charges on October 28, 2009, resulting in his automatic removal from office.[8]
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