Thomas Massengale Battle Jr. (born December 3, 1955) is an American businessman serving as the 67th
mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
of
Huntsville,
Alabama
Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...
. His first term began November 3, 2008, and he has since been reelected four times.
Early life and education
Battle was born in
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
, on December 3, 1955. As a young man he worked for his father's restaurant and attended
Berry High School (now
Hoover High).
Battle attended the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, the Capstone, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of ...
, in
Tuscaloosa, to study business, where he participated in the
Student Government Association and the debate team and joined the
Alabama Republican Party.
After graduating college with a
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...
in business, Battle became a manager for
Britling on the Highland in Birmingham. Battle moved to Huntsville in 1980, where he became a
real estate developer and was elected to one term on the city council from 1984 to 1988. During this time, Battle met Eula Sammons, and his son Andrew was born. Battle left the city council to run for mayor, losing in a run-off against
Democratic candidate
Steve Hettinger in 1988.
After this election loss, Battle started Battle Real Estate and owned or partnered in several retail and real estate firms.
Political career
Mayoral elections
2008 election
Battle announced his mayoral candidacy against incumbent
Loretta Spencer on March 26, 2008. Battle's policies were
fiscal responsibility, free enterprise, education, and creating jobs. Prior to the first round of voting, Spencer was endorsed by ''
The Huntsville Times''.
The Committee of 100, a group of businesspeople, issued a joint endorsement of Battle and Spencer.
In the municipal election on August 26, 2008, Spencer led Battle by 14,871 votes to 14,486. However, two minor candidates received 673 votes, preventing Spencer from attaining a majority, forcing a runoff with Battle.
In the runoff, on October 7, 2008, Battle defeated Spencer, by a vote of 21,123 votes (56%) to 16,821 (44%) for Spencer.
2012 election
On August 28, 2012, Battle won with 81 percent of the vote, beating Loretta Spencer and Jackie Reed. The 2012 election had the largest margin of victory in a Huntsville mayoral election. The voting results were as follows:
* Battle: 22,838 (80.7%)
* Spencer: 4,312 (15.2%)
* Reed: 1,159 (4.1%)
He won in all 44 precincts citywide.
2016 election
On September 23, 2015, Battle posted a statement confirming his running for a third term as mayor in 2016. Battle later won against his opponents with 80% of the votes cast for him.
* Battle: 13,896 (80.7%)
* Spencer: 1,516 (8.8%)
* Reed: 1,799 (10.5%)
2020 election
On August 25, 2020, Battle won reelection with 77.61% of the vote.
*Battle: 21,589 (77.61%)
* Woloszyn: 2,894 (10.40%)
* Reed: 1,729 (6.22%)
* Shingleton: 1,607 (5.78%)
Mayor of Huntsville
During his second term, Battle began the Restore Our Roads campaign and received a $250 million state roads package. To help fund the development, Battle proposed a one-cent sales tax. The city council approved the increase and Huntsville completed a $453 million construction project.
In 2015, Battle asked the city to buy body cameras for the Huntsville Police Department, at a cost of $1.2 million.
In 2016, Battle supported the arrival of
Google Fiber to Huntsville.
Battle favored the city-wide of expansion of
ridesharing companies like
Uber
Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...
and
Lyft
Lyft, Inc. is an American company offering ride-hailing services, motorized scooters, and bicycle-sharing systems in the United States and Canada. Lyft sets fares, which vary using a dynamic pricing model based on local supply and demand a ...
in the city, and rewrote the
vehicle for hire
A vehicle for hire is a vehicle providing private transport or shared transport for a fee, in which passengers are generally free to choose their points or approximate points of origin and destination, unlike public transport, and which t ...
ordinance to allow their operation.
In the
December 2017 special election for the Senate, Battle endorsed former State Supreme Court Judge
Roy Moore, saying "As a Republican, we were going to support whoever the Republican party nominated during our primary. The Republicans nominated Roy Moore."
In April 2018, a rookie Huntsville Police officer, William Darby, shot and killed a suicidal man within 11 seconds of arriving at a call. In August 2018, Mayor Battle urged the Huntsville city council to pay or assist with paying for Darby's defense. The city paid $89,000 for his defense. In May 2020, Darby was found guilty of murder. After the verdict, Battle released a statement that he "disagree
with the verdict" and that "Officer Darby followed the appropriate safety protocols in his response on the scene." Darby was cleared of wrong-doing by the city police review board. As a result, Darby was still paid by the city of Huntsville until late July. On August 20, 2021, Darby was sentenced to 25 years in jail for the murder. Battle pushed to prevent the bodycam footage from being released. However, the footage of the murder was released on August 27, 2021.
Fifteen Huntsville-area organizations, including the Alabama chapters of
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) is an African Americans, African-American civil rights organization based in Atlanta, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. SCLC is closely associated with its first president, Martin Luther King Jr., ...
and
NAACP Youth Council, have denounced Mayor Battle's handling of the
George Floyd protest that occurred in and around
Big Spring Park on June 3, 2020. Huntsville Police along with
SWAT
A SWAT (''Special Weapons and Tactics'') team is a generic term for a police tactical unit within the United States, though the term has also been used by other nations.
SWAT units are generally trained, equipped, and deployed to res ...
and
Incident Response Team used tear gas, pepper spray, and rubber bullets to end the protest.
Controversy
Following the murder conviction of William Darby, political groups and politicians called for mayor Battle to resign. Locals also made an online petition calling for the resignations of Battle and the Huntsville Police Chief Mark McMurray.
In May 2021, a Huntsville civil rights group, Rosa Parks Day Committee, also called for the resignations of Battle and McMurray. This came after both men publicly supported Huntsville Police Officer William Darby after his conviction for murder. Mark McMurray announced his retirement in Feb 2022.
2018 gubernatorial election
Battle unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for
governor of Alabama
A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
in
2018
Events January
* January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency.
* January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...
as an "outsider" candidate; he lost in the Republican primary to incumbent
Kay Ivey
Kay Ellen Ivey ( ; born October 15, 1944) is an American politician who is the 54th governor of Alabama, serving since 2017. A Republican since 2002, Ivey was the 38th Alabama state treasurer from 2003 to 2011 and the 30th lieutenant governor o ...
.
Battle touted strong job growth under his tenure, as well as the city's top credit rating from
credit rating agencies
A credit rating agency (CRA, also called a ratings service) is a company that assigns credit ratings, which rate a debtor's ability to pay back debt by making timely principal and interest payments and the likelihood of default. An agency may r ...
.
Personal life
Battle married Eula Sammons, a
kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cen ...
teacher at Monrovia Elementary, in 1988 they had one son, Andrew Battle. Sammons died on October 20, 2020, from
breast cancer
Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...
.
Battle is a member of the
Trinity United Methodist Church.
References
External links
Tommy Battle for Mayor official websiteCity of Huntsville website: Official Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle, Tommy
1955 births
21st-century mayors of places in Alabama
Alabama city council members
Alabama Republicans
Living people
Mayors of Huntsville, Alabama
Politicians from Birmingham, Alabama