The four Gadsden council districts Avery named are all contested. Here is who is running.

Robert Avery said he worked to make sure candidates ran in Gadsden City Council Districts 1, 3, 5 and 6. All four are contested on the Aug. 25 ballot, and all four have an incumbent facing at least one challenger. Avery did not name any individual candidate, and no candidate has been tied to his effort.

GADSDEN, AL – Four of Gadsden’s seven City Council districts are contested races with an incumbent on the ballot, and those four are the same districts former Councilman Robert Avery pointed to this week.

In a Facebook video posted this week, Avery said he was, in his words, “very instrumental” in making sure candidates were running in Districts 1, 3, 5 and 6. He said the goal was to build support for a challenger to the incumbent mayor.

Avery did not say which candidates he meant, and GadsdenThrive is not attributing any candidate’s decision to run to him. What follows is simply who is on the ballot in those four districts.

Who is running in the four districts Avery named?

District 1 has the largest field on the council ballot. Incumbent Tonya Lynn Latham faces Brandon “Bowtie” Hall, Russell Johnson and LaMont Kyle.

District 3 has two candidates. Incumbent Larry J. Avery Jr. faces Denecia Ann Getaw. Robert Avery represented District 3 himself for four terms after his election in 1986.

District 5 also has four candidates. Incumbent Jason Wilson faces Linda Riggins Aaron, Curtis Fail and Joey Nichols. GadsdenThrive covered that race in July, when the District 5 field drew attention as the election approached.

District 6 has two. Incumbent Dixie Minatra, who announced her re-election bid in June, faces Renay Stokes Reeves.

What about the other three districts?

Three council districts are not part of that group, and two of them will not appear on any ballot.

District 2 incumbent Steve Smith and District 4 incumbent Kent Back each drew no challenger during the June 9 to 23 qualifying window. Both were declared elected at the City Council’s July 1 meeting.

District 7 is contested, with incumbent Chris Robinson facing Singn Horn, but Avery did not include it among the districts he mentioned.

That leaves five council races actually on the ballot Aug. 25, and four of them are the ones Avery named.

Why do council races matter separately from the mayor’s race?

The two offices do different jobs.

The mayor runs city government day to day. The council sets policy, adopts the budget, and votes on spending, contracts and ordinances. A mayor who wants to move a project generally needs council votes to do it.

That is the practical reason a mayoral candidate’s allies would care who sits on the council. A mayor without support on the council can be blocked, and a mayor with it can move quickly.

Council members are elected by district rather than citywide, so a voter casts one council vote, for the district where they live. Turnout in a single district can be small enough that a few hundred votes decide the seat.

How does a candidate win, and what happens if nobody does?

A candidate must receive more than half the votes cast in the race to win outright.

In a two-candidate race, someone always clears that. In District 1 and District 5, where four candidates are running, splitting the vote four ways makes a majority much harder to reach.

If no candidate wins a majority, the top two advance to a runoff on Tuesday, Sept. 22. The new administration takes office Nov. 2.

What have the two mayoral candidates said?

Neither has responded yet.

GadsdenThrive emailed both Thomas Worthy and Mayor Craig Ford on Wednesday night about Avery’s video.

Worthy was asked whether Avery speaks for his campaign and whether the campaign had any involvement in the effort Avery described. Avery said he stepped out of the mayor’s race so Worthy could face Ford one on one, and that his recruiting was aimed at supporting a challenger to the incumbent.

Ford was asked to respond to the criticism Avery directed at city spending during the current administration.

Neither had replied as of Thursday morning. This story will be updated when they do.

Voters can find their district and polling place in the GadsdenThrive voter’s guide and the breakdown of all 16 polling places. Polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Aug. 25.

Frequently asked questions

Which council districts did Robert Avery name? Districts 1, 3, 5 and 6.

Did he say which candidates he recruited? No. He named districts only.

How many council seats are on the ballot? Five. Districts 2 and 4 were settled when their incumbents drew no challenger.

Have Worthy and Ford commented? Both were contacted Wednesday night. Neither had responded as of Thursday morning.

When is a runoff held? Sept. 22, in any race where no candidate wins a majority.