Story By Heath Hambrick

The one remaining Mayor race, along with four council races, was decided Tuesday night as the votes counted in Fort Payne, Fyffe, Henager, and Powell. The candidates have had the last four weeks to encourage residents of their respective municipalities to participate in the voting process. 

Four weeks ago, the City of Fort Payne chose four of its five city council members, with two men vying for the final seat. 

On Tuesday, a total of 1,129 registered voters went to the polls in Alabama’s Mountain Town to cast their ballots for either Mike Grant or Scotty Vaughn.  

Grant won the final seat on the Fort Payne City Council by 83 votes. Grant carried four of the five precincts along with the absentee ballots. 

“I’d like to say thank you to everyone who has helped this campaign along the way. I want to thank Scotty (Vaughn) for running a clean race. I never thought anything less than that because Scotty and I are friends. I want him to continue to be involved with the city,” said Mike Grant. 

Grant, along with Richard Camp, Todd Simpson, Beau Genelin, and John Smith, will take office as the new council on November 3, 2025. Grant, Camp, Genelin, and Simpson will be new to the council. 

The 1,129 voters who cast ballots Tuesday are only 13% of all registered voters in the City of Fort Payne, which has 8,500 registered voters. 

In other runoff election results, Garrett Wilson defeated Tara Kirby 163-111 in the Henager City Council race. In Fyffe, two town council seats were up for grabs. James Spears defeated Heath Galloway 85-73, and Matt Umphrey defeated Kaylee Anderson 110-52. And in the town of Powell, Eugene Byrum defeated Mark Maher 94-70 in the race for Mayor.