Joshua Brown, the one Black youngster at his preschool rising up within the Baldwin County seat of Bay Minette, has solely fond recollections of his academics and a way of belonging.
“I did not know at the time I was any different from the rest of the kids,” Brown, a lifelong Bay Minette resident mentioned on Thursday, two days after he made historical past: He’s the primary Black man or lady to be elected mayor of Bay Minette.
“I understand the impact of me being the first Black person elected to the mayor’s seat,” mentioned Brown who, at age 32, could very effectively be the youngest individual ever elected to town’s prime political publish as effectively.
“It’s major,” he mentioned. “It’s still a little unreal. It’s historic. But I push and yearn for the community not to stop here. We have a lot of work to do for the betterment of all people in Bay Minette.”
Brown upset three-term incumbent Mayor Bob Wills throughout Tuesday’s municipal election to win the mayor’s seat. He might be sworn into workplace on Nov. 3, and can grow to be town’s 18th mayor for the reason that metropolis first elected the place in 1907.
The victory was bolstered by a surge of Black voter turnout. Brown acquired 871 votes to 750 for Wills, for a 54% to 46% win. The distinction within the election got here in an astonishing 282-10 benefit Brown had over Wills on the Boykin Middle precinct, the place a lot of Black voters solid their ballots.
Brown’s win occurred in a metropolis that, whereas it’s seen a progress in Black residents lately, continues to be a majority white – the 2019-2023 American Neighborhood Survey outcomes by the U.S. Census present Bay Minette at 52% white, 41% Black.
“It really was a surprise,” Wills mentioned. “Their turnout was unbelievable. It was clear that a lot of people who never voted before showed up. I have to give them credit.”
Bay Minette Mayor Bob Wills speaks to the native media on Wednesday, Might 11, 2022, after it was introduced that Atlanta-based Novelis is constructing a $2.5 billion aluminum plant on the South Alabama MegaSite north of Bay Minette, Ala. (John Sharp/[email protected]).
The general voter turnout in Bay Minette was 28%, which was barely greater than different cities with aggressive mayoral races together with Cell.
“My turnout wasn’t bad,” Wills mentioned. “I had a decent turnout, but … it’s a shame. I’m very disappointed.”
Wills, 77, a neighborhood legal professional, had been a longtime public servant earlier than he was elected mayor in 2012. He beforehand served 18 years on the Baldwin County College Board.
Brown attributes his win to a grassroots marketing campaign technique and voter schooling efforts.
“We did a lot of phone calls, texting and hosted events for people to come out and hear what I had to say,” Brown mentioned. “I’ve been volunteering in this community since I was 15 to 16 years old as a young counselor, musician and worker who puts on events and trying to fundraise. I’ve been in Bay Minette my whole life.”
Brown mentioned his priorities embody financial improvement, a key subject for Bay Minette in a county that – outdoors its northern areas – is taken into account among the many fastest-growing in Alabama.
The Novelis website in Bay Minette, Ala., as photographed in June 2025.Gulf Coast Studios
Town is predicted to be reworked with the opening of a Novelis aluminum manufacturing plant someday late subsequent 12 months. The $4.1 billion plant is north of town and consumes a lot of the three,000 acre South Alabama MegaSite property. It’s anticipated to herald roughly 1,000 new jobs with a median annual wage of round $65,000.
Brown, a gross sales director at Native IT, LLC, in Foley, mentioned he desires to leverage his advertising background and push an “aggressive business growth mindset” by luring new small companies to town.
“What are the missing industries here in Bay Minette that we need to go out there and hunt for and bring in?” Brown mentioned.
He is also advocating for partnerships between town and the Baldwin County College System to help youth actions.
“We need to find ways to engage them and highlight our youth in all available initiatives whether it’s culture and arts and academia and that we are able to invest more in those areas and partner more effectively with our school system to do so,” he mentioned.
The statistics present that Bay Minette faces its personal points in comparison with the remainder of Baldwin County. Town’s almost 30% poverty price is nearly double the poverty price for all the county, which is beneath 16%. Town’s median family earnings is $39,737, or about half of that when in comparison with the Daphne-Fairhope-Foley metropolitan space, the place it’s at $75,019.
Town, which has round 8,200 residents, is the longtime house to county authorities and its courthouses. It’s also house to a small regional hospital, North Baldwin Infirmary. Coastal Alabama Neighborhood School additionally calls Bay Minette its house.
Brown realizes there might be loads of work and challenges that await. For now, he’s having fun with the second of crafting his first political success story.
Joshua Brown serving meals at a marketing campaign occasion on Aug. 19, 2025, at Road’s Restaurant in Bay Minette, Ala. Brown defeated three-term incumbent Mayor Bob Wills to grow to be the primary Black mayor of Bay Minette in the course of the Aug. 26, 2025, municipal election.provided picture by Joshua Brown
“This isn’t just about, ‘let’s get me in as the first Black and youngest mayor’ of Bay Minette,” Brown mentioned. “To me, it’s about, ‘let’s get working together for your families.’”
He mentioned his victory represents a coming collectively of Bay Minette, in that residents had been in a position to “share their ideas and their successes and their pains and find commonality across economic status and social classes, and the color of your skin.”
“We said that we are all in the same boat, have similar issues and that we want change,” Brown mentioned. “We have more in common than we have differences, so let’s work together.”
