The mother of the late Mobile City Council President Levon Manzie said she wants to serve out the remainder of her son’s term and “fight along with him and his memory” during next week’s runoff election that is setting up as an unusual Alabama election battle to represent a key city council district that includes downtown Mobile.
Jeanette Manzie, 63, was announced Monday by Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson as his selection to serve for approximately one month on the Mobile City Council. The term lasts until November 1, when the new council will be seated.
Jeanette Manzie said she simply wants to honor her son with the appointment, calling it a “momma’s fight” to support Levon Manzie as she has throughout his life. Levon Manzie died on September 19, at the age of 38 following a lengthy battle with kidney disease. His funeral was Saturday at St. Joseph Missionary Baptist Church in Mobile, where he had been a pastor since 2018.
“The only thing I’m asking is that I would be allowed to finish what Levon started,” said Jeanette Manzie, during a news conference at Government Plaza. “Levon was serious about this position. He loved the city of Mobile. He fought hard for the city of Mobile and I watched every bit of that.”
‘Outcome of election’
The appointment to the council’s vacant District 2 seat needs supermajority approval from the Mobile City Council, but it’s unlikely to happen during Tuesday’s weekly meeting setting up a possible showdown among some council members over whether the council should suspend its own rules and move forward with Jeanette Manzie’s appointment. Council votes require unanimous consent to be considered immediately and without having to wait for one week before they are formally voted on.
“It absolutely can and should happen (Tuesday),” said Councilman John Williams.
Councilman Fred Richardson, however, said the council should not intervene with the District 2 seat until at least after the runoff election on October 5. Manzie’s name remains on the ballot and he faces William Carroll, the former District 2 councilman who served for two terms as the District 2 councilman before deciding not to run in 2013.
“I believe citizens should exercise their right to support either of the candidates on the October 5 ballot,” Richardson said. “But Government Plaza should take no action until the election is over, including the mayor and council, in my opinion.”
He added, “I believe any appointment made by the mayor to fill the 32 days left in Councilman Manzie’s term, and confirmed by the council before October 5, will interfere with the outcome of the election on October 5.”
The last time the council voted on a mayoral appointment to their board, it went through unanimously and without any delay. That vote occurred on November 20, 2012, when current Council Vice President C.J. Small was appointed by then-Mayor Sam Jones to fill out the remainder of Councilman Jermaine Burrell’s term. Burrell resigned from the council to take a job in Boston, and Small was immediately moved into the seat. Small then ran and won his first election to the council about nine months later, in August 2013.
Small, who is currently serving in the council president’s role, said the following, “If anyone gets appointed or elected to the District 2 seat or any seat on the council, I’m willing and able to assist them to (the best of) my ability. To move the city of Mobile forward, not only am I’m willing to do all I can do for District 3 but for any district, regardless if the seat is vacant or not.”
‘Losing the voice’
At least two pastors, representing Black congregations in Mobile, are concerned about Jeanette Manzie’s appointment and whether it will allow Stimpson to usher in annexation or affect the supermajority votes on the council during the month of October. Any decision to alter supermajority votes on the council requires a constitutional amendment voted by the public and cannot be determined by a simple vote of the seven-member council.
The Rev. Cleveland McFarland of St. Peter’s Missionary Baptist Church and the Rev. Trevor E. Woolridge of Bethel A.M.E. Church of Mobile, said they were concerned Jeanette Manzie will be overly supportive of Stimpson’s agenda, which also includes an annexation plan that Levon Manzie voted against in 2019. The annexation plan would add approximately 13,000 new residents into west Mobile, but was viewed as a political hot potato because it would add a predominately white area into a city that has become 51% Black, 40% white.
The council vote was 4-3 in support of annexation, but it needed a five-vote supermajority for passage. The three “No” votes came from the council’s only Black members -- Manzie, Small and Richardson.
“I guess the mayor has a right to appoint whomever he wants,” said McFarland, who has been pastor at his church for 33 years. “Anyone with any sense knows the mayor will appoint anyone who is carrying on his agenda. The problem is ... is the mayor’s agenda our agenda?”
Woolridge added, “The concern we have is losing the voice. The supermajority is put into place to ensure the African American community voice was continuously heard and respected. I don’t believe for one moment that the mayor is concerned about that as he is with his own agenda.”
McFarland also suggested that Stimpson urged Jeanette Manzie to serve out the remainder of her son’s term while the two met last week.
Stimpson, in response to AL.com, said the following, “My only motivation in appointing Mrs. Jeanette Manzie is to honor Levon by doing what I believe he would have wanted. She is not just Levon’s mother, she was one of his closest advisors and confidants for the entirety of his public service. If anyone knows what Levon was working on and what his priorities were, it is Jeanette Manzie.”
He added, “We don’t have any plans to pursue or propose any kind of annexation package before Councilman Manzie’s current term expires at the end of October. Furthermore, no one on our team has had a single discussion about any city policy matters with Mrs. Manzie. She is her own woman, and as she said herself, her only allegiances are to her late son and to the citizens of District 2.”
‘Finish the race’
Jeanette Manzie’s appointment looms over the October 5 runoff, which her family is actively seeking to have Levon Manzie win the final election in which his name appears on a ballot. Levon Manzie has never lost an election since he was first seated on the Mobile County School Board.
Jeanette Manzie said she has no interest in running for a four-year term to permanently replace her son on the council if a special election occurs. Levon Manzie finished the August 24 election with 48% of the vote in a six-person contest, with Carroll finishing second with 23%. Levon Manzie fell two percentage points short of 50% of the overall vote need to avoid the runoff.
Jeanette Manzie called on District 2 voters to “finish the race” and “show up” during the runoff like they did on August 24 and support her late son.
“Since the race is not over, we’ll fight and fight along with him and his memory and let him know we are with him and we want his legacy to be remembered at the end as the president of the Mobile City Council,” said Jeanette Manzie.
The runoff will be a rare, but not unheard of, contest in Alabama in which a recently deceased candidate’s name appears on a ballot. In past elections, the emotional appeal of voting for a recently deceased candidate has upended contests. One example occurring in 2012, in the small Tallapoosa County town of Jackson’s Gap where voters re-elected Mayor Janice Canham over her opponent. Canham died two weeks before the election.
McFarland said he’s concerned that emotions will affect the outcome of the October 5 contest. He called on voters to support Carroll, and not to extend the political intrigue beyond October 5.
A special election, if needed, would take place after the new Mobile City Council is seated on November 1.
McFarland said he voted for Levon Manzie previously. But he said that District 2 residents should “vote for someone who can take the job now.”
“Right now, Carroll is there,” said McFarland. “Why keep dragging this out? Why, in my opinion, vote for Manzie while he’s deceased? Anything you do out of emotion usually backfires. I don’t want to vote out of their emotion, but to vote from their intellect and what is best for the city of Mobile.”
McFarland said that Carroll has done the job before and is ready to take the seat.
Carroll said the residents of District 2 “deserve to see the process completed” and for the runoff to take place.
Jeanette Manzie, without naming Carroll, said she wants to voters to back a future candidate “who has the interest in District 2 that Levon had.”
“I don’t know of a specific person, but I will be watching the race like a hawk to see who enters it and has the best interests of District 2 at heart,” she said.
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