5 Candidates Qualify for Tyner’s Tuscaloosa City Council Seat

Five candidates have qualified to run for Kip Tyner’s seat on the Tuscaloosa City Council, and voters in District 5 will head to the polls on Tuesday, December 8.

Qualifying for the special municipal election closed at 5 p.m. Tuesday, October 27. The candidates, as listed by the city, are:

The winner will serve out the remainder of the term Tyner was elected to. Tyner represented Alberta for 30 years and was council president when he died in September.

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Five Candidates Files Paperwork

Three of the five have already spoken with the Thread about their campaigns.

Erica Grant, the first to announce, represents District 5 on the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education and owns several businesses, including the Catch a Taste restaurant in Alberta. Winning the council seat would cost her the school board seat.

Al Sommerville III owns AS3 Transportation, a Tuscaloosa trucking company, and is a graduate of Tuscaloosa County High School and the University of Alabama.

Bo Hicks owns a brewery and restaurant and has lived in District 5 for 16 years. He grew up near Lake View and Abernant and graduated from Brookwood High School.

Thomas Sahm is an animal advocate running on a platform that includes a better Tuscaloosa Metro Animal Shelter.

Joe Cameron IV is a graduate of Tuscaloosa County High School and a former salon owner with two adult children seeking office for the first time.

Five candidates means a runoff is likely. A candidate needs more than 50 percent of the vote to win outright on December 8. If nobody clears that bar, the two who finish highest face each other again in a separate election, and the other three are eliminated.

The runoff election, if needed, will be held about a month after the general election on January 5th, 2027.

Absentee Basics

Absentee voting opens at 8 a.m. Tuesday, November 3 at the City Clerk’s Office, the same morning polls open statewide for the general election.

Voters can cast an absentee ballot in person at the clerk’s office or by mail, but they have to complete an absentee ballot application first. Applications are available at the clerk’s office, by mail, or as a printout from the city’s elections website.

The City Clerk’s Office is at Tuscaloosa City Hall, 2201 University Boulevard. Absentee materials sent by mail should go to P.O. Box 2089, Attention: City Clerk, Tuscaloosa, AL 35403.

For more exclusive coverage of city politics in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.