Lashunda Scales acknowledged that her band of supporters was worn out.

“I know you all are tired,” the District 1 Jefferson County commissioner said. “But it’s a good thing when you’re tired when you win. It’s a different kind of tired.”

Scales is familiar with the victorious tiredness that came with again claiming the Democratic nomination to her seat on the commission. She outdistanced herself from Birmingham City Councilor Clinton Woods 17,110 votes to 11,316, which gave her 60.19% of the vote to Woods’ 39.81%. There is no Republican running for the seat in November, making Scales the presumptive commissioner for the next term.

The victory came despite Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin’s endorsement of Woods and opposition to Scales, who has twice run against him for mayor.

“What you were running against was a political machine that was led by some people who are used to winning,” Scales said. “Tonight should have been a win in their column, but it’s not. It’s a win in the column of the people, and that’s a real distinction between what has been typical in terms of who used to win it.”

Woods pointed to differences between the incumbent and himself.

“At the end of the day, the voters had the opportunity to make the choice and today they did,” he said. “I think there are some things I definitely could have done better. We’ll definitely take an opportunity to look at the numbers and really learn from this.”

In the Jefferson County Commission District 3 race on the Democratic ballot, Camara Blue knocked off Dock Scott, taking 84.73% of the vote to 15.27%. Blue will face Republican Commissioner Jimmie Stephens, who has been in office since 2010, in the general election. Efforts to reach Blue on Tuesday night were unsuccessful.

Sheriff Pettway Wins Democratic Nod

Sheriff Mark Pettway was another incumbent who easily won the Democratic nomination in his bid to keep his seat for another term. Pettway won 65,130 votes, or 74.85% of the total, Tuesday to fend off two challengers — Birmingham Police Detective Chris Anderson, who got 18.87% of the vote, and Jude Washington, who brought up the rear with 6.28%.

“I think the people see my work, they know what I do (and) they believe in my work,” Pettway said. “Crime is down significantly. The deputies and officers (are) doing a great job.

“We continue to make sure that crime is being lowered every day,” the sheriff said. “That’s what we do. And we’re looking to also protect our seniors. We’ve got all kind of scams going on. AI’s out there now. We’re making sure that our deputies are trained to be prepared to be able to protect and prevent that from happening to our seniors.”

He faces Jacob Reach on the Republican ballot in November.

Tax Collector, District Judge Candidates Nominated

Two other county races were on Tuesday’s ballots.

The race for the assistant tax collector’s slot in the Bessemer Division is going to a Democratic runoff between Mykeshia Myles Jones, who got 36.34% of the votes cast Tuesday, and incumbent Ron Marshall, who got 36.29% of the vote. Danielle Lewis Matthews came in third with 27.37% of the vote.

Tiffany Jones secured the Democratic nomination for the county’s District Judge, Place 7 slot with 69.51% of the vote, besting Jimmy Ray Earley Jr.’s 5.48% and Hope Marshall’s 25.02%.

In all, 130,648 ballots have been cast and counted in Jefferson County, for a voter turnout of 26.62%, the Jefferson County Board of Registrars reported.

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2026 statewide and Jefferson County primary election results via our partners WBHM

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