Steven Reed (mayor)


Steven Reed is an American jurist and politician serving as the Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a probate judge in Montgomery County.

Early life and education

Steven Reed was born in Montgomery, Alabama to Joe and Mollie Reed as one of three children, including his siblings Irva and Joe M. His father, Joe, served as one of the first class of elected members of the Montgomery City Council from 1975 to 1999. Steven Reed earned a Bachelor of Arts from Morehouse College and a Master of Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.
Reed is a member of the Omega Psi Phi fraternity, having been initiated into its Theta Alpha graduate chapter in 1998.

Early career

He was a financial analyst, then changed careers and lobbied the Alabama legislature, and worked for Lieutenant Governor Jim Folsom Jr.
Reed was elected as probate judge in 2012, the first African American in that position. In February 2015 he was the first probate judge in the state of Alabama who started issuing same-sex marriage licenses after district judge Callie V. Granade struck the state's ban on same-sex marriage, defying Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. In March 2015, after a ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court, he stopped issuing them.

Mayor of Montgomery

Reed ran for mayor of Montgomery in the 2019 election, and defeated his opponent David Woods in a runoff. Upon taking office, Reed became the first African-American mayor of Montgomery since its incorporation in 1819. He was officially sworn in as Mayor on November 12, 2019. Prior to being sworn in, Reed took part in a prayer service at the historic Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, which gained notoriety at the start of the Civil rights movement for leading the Montgomery bus boycott.