Voters Make Their Wishes Known In Northport Municipal Elections

August 26, 2025 - NORTHPORT, AL - In an era when it seems like elected officials are impervious to the will of their constituents, the voters in the city of Northport, Alabama proved that collectively their voices can still make a difference. For the past two years, the Northport City Council has consistently acted against the will of the people. Amidst huge opposition, they set the path in motion to sell the Northport Community Center, a lovely park that includes historical buildings as well some green space on Lurleen Boulevard that is largely commercialized. And on May 19th, 2025, the Northport City Council approved the University Beach resort development by a 3 to 2 vote in opposition to the expressed desire of its constituents.

The people of Northport did not take such matters sitting down and formed a grassroots movement to save the Northport Community Center. A movement which proved successful. And while they were unable to prevent the approvals and tax rebates being offered to the proposed University Beach resort development, they did band together to vote out the incumbents on the Northport City Council. In Tuesday's elections, they succeeded in voting out two of those incumbents. With Turnley Smith successfully defeating the incumbent Northport city council president, Christy Bobo for Northport City Council District 1. And Jaime Conger successfully defeating the incumbent, Karl Wiggins for Northport City Council District 3.

Woodrow Washington III, who is one of the grandsons of the founders of the locally famous Archibald's BBQ, is one of the incumbents who somehow won reelection for Northport City Council District 2. His main challenger was a political newcomer, Zach Stone, who managed to secure 43% of the vote but was unable to unseat Woodrow Washington III who came in with 54% of the vote. Jamie Dykes is another incumbent who won reelection for Northport City Council District 4. However, Dykes was one of the two Northport City Council members who voted against the rezoning and special district plan for the University Beach resort development and was not a focus of the grassroots movement to unseat all of the incumbents. Danny Higdon was uncontested in Northport City Council District 5.

The current mayor of Northport, John Hinton, did not seek reelection. With the former commander of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, Dale Phillips, now being the mayor-elect of Northport after securing over 60% of the votes in a four-man race. Philips is also one of the principal organizers of the Northport Political Action Committee, a PAC that was specifically formed to unseat the incumbents on the Northport City Council. With their endorsements holding in all races except for in District 2.

Luisa Reyes is a Tuscaloosa attorney, piano instructor, and vocalist