Randall Woodfin led a field of 12 candidates in the race for Birmingham mayor on Aug. 22 to force a runoff with political veteran and incumbent Mayor William Bell.

Woodfin's progressive campaign, which garnered national attention, sparked a larger voter turnout than four years ago and seemingly won him the millennial vote.

The 36-year-old assistant city attorney said he didn't just reach the young voters. He said the 15,656 votes cast for him on Tuesday were from a diverse cross-section of the city's population: young and old, black and white.

How did Woodfin earn 1,645 more votes than the incumbent? "We took the time to listen," he said.

Woodfin and his dozens of volunteers spent a year canvassing Birmingham's 99 neighborhoods and listening to the concerns of voters. They asked for basic services, such as road paving, street lights and sidewalk repairs and a reinvestment in libraries and city schools.

"I think people are appreciative of someone actually listening to them," he said, and he doesn't think that happens too often anymore in Birmingham politics.

Not only that, Woodfin has committed to reinvesting in neighborhoods.

That progressive stance earned him endorsements from national groups like Our Revolution, a political action organization spun out of Sen. Bernie Sanders' 2016 presidential campaign.

Woodfin is breaking up the status quo and wants to invest in the people who actually live in Birmingham -- not just the business community, said Diane May, communications director for Our Revolution.

He wants to raise the minimum wage, invest in infrastructure and create jobs for teenagers and adults, she said.

"(Woodfin is) bringing the city together to create a progressive vision that we can expand all over the country," May said.

In the end, Bell carried nine more boxes than Woodfin on election day, according to the unofficial results that do not include provisional ballots that were cast mostly by voters who were on an inactive list or didn't have their identification. Those ballots won't be counted until Tuesday. Chris Woods carried one box by a single vote.

Many of the boxes Woodfin carried were in the southern part of the city where turnout was generally larger.

Bell had not responded to questions from Al.com prior to publication of this story.

Birmingham-Southern College political science Professor Vince Gawronski said Woodfin has a good chance of winning the Oct. 3 mayoral runoff.

"A part of that has to do with him being young and energetic," he said. "He is getting out the vote, knocking on doors and making himself accessible. They are going old-school and talking to people. That makes a difference."

Woodfin is social media savvy and is raising money largely through small donations, Gawronski said. Woodfin has reached out to all of the Birmingham-based colleges, engaged students and took on student interns who gained college credit for volunteering on his campaign, he said.

Gawronski, who is the chair of the Department of Political Science, Economics and Sociology at Birmingham-Southern, said Woodfin sat down with him personally. In the 17 years he has been in Birmingham, he said he has never met Bell.

Woodfin also has a real plan for Birmingham, Gawronski said.

While Woodfin is canvassing all of Birmingham's 99 neighborhoods, Bell appears to be relying on name recognition to win back his job, he said.

Bell, who has been involved in Birmingham politics since the 1970s, has been criticized for the amount of money he spends on his staff, security detail and on travel, and as well as his apparent inattention to city schools, Gawronski said.

The race to the runoff could get "ugly," though, he said, and the professor isn't sure if Woodfin is prepared for that.

Woodfin's campaign has gained the support of, at least, two of his previous competitors. When asked for who they were supporting in the runoff, former candidates Fernandez "Brother" Sims spoke of Woodfin's integrity.

"On the campaign trail Randall has spoken privately and even in public interviews of his respect for me," Sims said in an email to AL.com. "That alone takes a certain degree of courage and integrity. Likewise, Randall's campaign staff Ed Fields, Daniel Deriso, his volunteers, and even his mother has expressed the same sentiments and have shown the same integrity. Between Mayor William Bell and Randall Woodfin: Randall is the only clear choice in this runoff. Randall will be a mayor who will care for all neighborhoods. I have a great and mutually shared respect for Randall and his hopes for Birmingham. I consider him a friend. I will campaign for him, and I vote for him in the run off."

Another former candidate Patricia Bell, no relation to Mayor Bell, said she is leaning towards supporting Woodfin. She said she is "waiting to see if his agenda would come close to the futuristic plans needed for our city."

The eight other candidates who did not make the runoff had not responded to questions from Al.com about whether they support Bell or Woodfin in the runoff prior to publication of this story.

Bell and Woodfin also have distinguished themselves on several issues, including:

CONFEDERATE MONUMENT

Three days after a deadly rally in Charlottesville, Va., Bell ordered the Confederate monument at Linn Park covered by plywood while legal options to remove it are considered. Bell said the monument was walled to protect it from being vandalized or destroyed.

The violent protests in Virginia stemmed from that city's efforts to remove a Confederate monument.

Bell said the covering of the monument doesn't break state law because it doesn't alter the monument in any way. Plus, he said the law has a flaw and doesn't apply a $25,000 fine to monuments or statues that are more than 40 years old.

"Confederate monuments all across the country has presented themselves in such a way that it has caused division in our society," Bell said, during a press conference. "We must remember that the Confederacy was about sedition and treason, and to have monuments that support the belief that it was the right thing to do at the time is really an anathema to what we believe in today. We are trying to find a way to bring people together and not divide people, and my personal belief is would we have a statue to Hitler in this community, would we have a statue that would glorify having people in human bondage? I don't think so."

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall filed a lawsuit against the city stating the covering is illegal. He contends the city can be fined $25,000 for each day the monument is covered.

Woodfin

Woodfin declined to comment on this issue.

ENSLEY PUBLIC SAFETY COMPLEX

Bell

Late last year, the mayor proposed moving the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service and the Birmingham Police Department headquarters and municipal court out of the downtown core and move them to downtown Ensley.

The estimated $40 million project involves renovating the historic Ramsay McCormack Building in Ensley and building new structures for the police and fire headquarters.

Bell told AL.com that the project would be "a shot in the arm toward revitalization and spur residential and business growth" in Ensley. "We expect the public safety complex to have the same kind of impact in Ensley that Regions Field did for downtown. We must seize and embrace this opportunity to continue Birmingham's Renaissance throughout our beloved city," he said.

Woodfin

Woodfin is against moving the police and fire headquarters and municipal court out of downtown Birmingham.

"Bell's plan doesn't make logistical sense to me, or to the dozens of police officers that I have spoken with," he told AL.com.

Woodfin said the project can't be completed for $40 million.

"A five-minute drive around main street Ensley and anyone can see that $40 million dollars needs to be invested in the entire neighborhood, not just one building," he said. (Bell said the entire project will cost $40 million not just the Ramsay McCormack rehab.)

Instead, Woodfin said he would help revitalize Ensley by earmarking resources for demolishing abandoned properties, cutting overgrown lots, filling potholes and repairing sidewalks.

Bell

The mayor formed a task force to address gentrification in the city. The group will study the issue and provide recommendations to the mayor's office on policies that could combat gentrification.

"We have promised to spur housing construction while keeping gentrification at bay and to improve neighborhood amenities like the LED lighting, bike paths and handicapped accessible walkways while persevering the character of our neighborhoods, making them more desirable, diverse and affordable at the same time," Bell told AL.com.

Woodlawn Station, Avondale, Pratt City and now Ensley is experiencing new growth and development for affordable homes for families to live, he said, at least partially due to the revitalization of downtown -- with the building of Regions Field and the Negro Southern League Baseball Museum.

Bell said the city already has many tools at its disposal that can be utilized to require developers in rezoned areas to set aside 30 percent of new buildings for lower rent apartments.

Woodfin

Rapid increases in rent and property taxes due to gentrification have displaced seniors and low-income residents from their homes, and ousted small businesses from our community, Woodfin said.

The consequences of gentrification are deeply concerning, particularly since Mayor Bell seems incapable of striking the appropriate balance between encouraging development downtown while also ensuring that Birmingham still remains affordable for our long-term residents and businesses, Woodfin said..

There are common sense approaches for preserving affordability in Birmingham, Woodfin said.

He said he would work with the Jefferson County Commission and Jefferson County Tax Assessor's Office to grant more substantial property tax relief for seniors living in areas with rapidly increasing property values. Woodfin said he would instruct the city's law department and planning department to develop an inclusionary zoning ordinance that will require developers to set aside a certain percentage of units in each new multifamily development for Birmingham residents making less than $40,000 a year.

CRIME

Bell

Bell said he is advocating for "Ban the Box," a campaign that asks for hiring applications not to include a box asking applicants about their criminal record.

"We have to find a way to get (convicted felons) back into a job producing environment, back to being productive citizens," Bell said, adding if felons can't get a job when they get out of jail, they are going to revert back to crime.

He said Birmingham needs more police officers. "In this past legislative session, we went down to Montgomery to ask for the power to bring back retired police officers," Bell said, because now police officers can retire after 20 years of service.

"We lose the best, experienced officers due to retirement," he said. "I am trying to bring those officers back."

Bell said the city's high crime rate is related to the state of education in Birmingham. Under his administration, a new reading program will be implemented, he said.

"You have to spend more money in the area of reading for our children," he said.

Bell has also touted the Violence Reduction Initiative, part of a federal program, that provides an intervention, of sorts, for some of the city's most at-risk men -- groups of people cops believe are the most likely to commit gun violence. They are either on probation, parole or some other type of community corrections.

In the program, these men hear messages from mothers of homicide victims, influential community members and social service workers about the need for the violence to stop in hopes they will take that message back to the rest of their group members.

Woodfin

"We have to find a way to put guns out of our young boys' hands and replace them with jobs," Woodfin said, during a televised debate, on how he would combat crime in the Magic City. "Fighting poverty is the way we address crime in our city."

He has spoken out about creating a summer jobs program for city teenagers as a means of crime prevention.

Woodfin, who is open about this brother's homicide death five years ago, said he was worked to expand the Birmingham police force to 1,000 officers over the next four years. He said he would also increase new officer salaries and restore annual cost-of-living salary adjustments and longevity pay for Birmingham Police and Fire and Rescue personnel.

He also advocates for the expansion of "Ban the Box."

ENDORSEMENTS

Bell

Laborers Union, Local 559

Jefferson County Labor Council

Jefferson County Citizens Coalition PAC

Jefferson County Millennial Democrats

Jefferson County Chapter of Alabama New South Alliance

Birmingham Association of Realtors

Birmingham Fraternal Order of Police

Woodfin

The Grassroots Coalition of Birmingham

Birmingham Professional Firefighters Association

Our Revolution

National Association of Letter Carriers - Birmingham Local Chapter

The Collective Political Action Committee

Political Revolution