An Alabama Town’s New Mayor Was Locked Out. 3 Years Later, He Will Return.

By Hank Sanders, New York Times

Newbern, Ala., had not held elections in 50 years — until Patrick Braxton ran for office. But when Mr. Braxton won, he was blocked from carrying out his duties, he said in a lawsuit.

Nearly four years after Patrick Braxton won the mayoral election for the small town of Newbern, Ala., in November 2020, he could soon get to serve his first term.

Mr. Braxton said in a lawsuit that, after he won the election, he never received access to manage the town’s finances, was barred from opening the municipal mailbox and was even locked out of the town hall, after the locks had been changed twice in six months.

Finally, on Friday, Newbern and Mr. Braxton filed a settlement agreement that, if approved by Judge Kristi K. DuBose of the Southern District of Alabama, will allow Mr. Braxton to begin his first term — three and a half years after it started.

“Every time I turned a corner, there was another obstacle in my way,” Mr. Braxton, a handyman who has long worked as a community volunteer, said in an interview.

Learn why Braxton didn’t “walk away from the scene.”

Some Black Americans first became politicians during Reconstruction.

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