By Roy S. Johnson
This is an opinion column.
“Let me see your phone,” the woman next to me asked. “I wanna see the pictures you took.”
I knew her, at least knew who she was, so saw no harm in handing my phone to her.
She looked at a photo — then deleted it. Swipe left. Delete. Swipe left. Delete. Swipe left. Delete.
What the ….? That was my brain; I was too dumbfounded to speak.
“Here you go,” she finally said, handing the phone back to me. “I didn’t like how I look in some of those.”
That’s how I met Rep. Juandalynn Givan.
Now, years later, it makes complete sense.
It was about a decade ago, around the time I started writing columns here. The occasion was an event at Parker High School on Birmingham’s west side featuring several local and state public officials. As she spoke to the crowd, I took a few shots with my phone to potentially accompany the column. And, well, she didn’t like how she looked in some of ‘em.
It was quintessential Givan, and a fitting introduction to perhaps the most unique — and polarizing — elected official in Alabama. For 16 years, she represented Birmingham’s District 60 in the state House of Representatives. In November, that tenure will end as Givan lost her bid for a fourth term to political neophyte Alicia Escott Lumpkin.
Lumpkin, a former city employee, received 52.2%, or 5,080 votes in the Democratic primary to Givan’s 33.55% (3,261). Nina Taylor, a captain in the Birmingham Fire Department, finished third with 14.9% (1,379), according to unofficial results on Wednesday.
It took Givan several hours to surface after the defeat, to react to losing the seat she’s held since this year’s high school graduates were toddlers. When she finally emerged early Wednesday afternoon, she did so in a social media post that was uncharacteristically muted. Over a stark, darkened, almost apocalyptic image of the Alabama State House, it read: “District 60 has spoken.”
A few minutes later, she told me: “As a person who was a political science major, and who has always been involved to some degree in politics, I believe in the democratic process. While I may not always agree with it, I do believe in it.”
Givan was one of eight incumbent lawmakers who lost their seats. She touts among legislative victories, bills she either sponsored or co-sponsored, her work amending laws impacting children, especially human trafficking, a bill curbing exhibition driving and street racing, and the appropriately named “brunch bill,” which allowed the Birmingham City Council to approve moving liquor, beer and wine sales from noon to 10 a.m. on Sundays.
“I am very proud of my time in the Alabama legislature,” Givan added. “My body of work speaks for itself — I’ve been a hell of a legislator. And I don’t care who you are, whether or not you like me, whether or not you like my style, no one will be able to take that from me.”
Much will certainly be said in the coming days — and much left unsaid. She lost to a candidate who was heavily supported, if not handpicked, by Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, Givan’s longtime political foil.
A PAC launched by a Woodfin supporter paid for radio ads attacking Givan.
Last year, Givan challenged the mayor in what deteriorated into an embarrassingly petty race — among the messiest political battles Birmingham has seen, and that’s saying a whole lot. Givan took myriad hits and launched plenty, too – challenging the mayor to “make it make sense.” When she didn’t always make sense to all, especially on some controversial social media posts.
Woodfin won resoundingly with almost 75% of the vote. Givan gained just 4% and came in third place. Second place went to LaShunda Scales (she was in the mess, too), who this week held off City Councilor Clinton Woods to keep her seat on the county commission.
“That was the worst type of politics and power tricks,” Givan told me this week. “It was a very dirty race, and I regret it. I do regret it at heart, because you don’t have to play dirty to win.”
She said she was motivated to run for mayor by the spate of 154 homicides that plagued the city in 2024. “So many people had died, and there was nobody who stepped in to push the city hall, the administration there, but me.”
Last year saw a stunning drop in homicides to a 10-year low (88), and in the first quarter of 2026, homicides were down again, a 42% drop from the year prior.
“I felt like it was worth saving some lives and forcing their hands.”
Looking back, Givan wishes she’d done more to “educate people more” about the legislative process.
“People think it’s so easy to pass legislation, or it may appear to be, but they don’t understand that what I may think is something simple to one of my colleagues, it is something totally different. It just depends on where you are, the dynamics of the district that you represent,” she said. “This past year, I would have liked to have passed more legislation for women of color dealing with black maternal health. I really wish that I could have focused on more key issues that truly impact our communities.”
The re-election effort was Given’s third race in three years. Before vying for mayor, she sought the redrawn U.S. Congressional seat that was eventually won by Rep. Shomari Figures. In the Democratic primary, Givan finished 8th in an 11-candidate field.
“I really didn’t run that race, I did not just press hard,” she said, “I ran that race because someone told me I can’t. You can’t tell me that I can’t do something that the Constitution or the law affords me to do.”
Don’t for a moment think this third defeat in three years has tempered Givan, has dampened Juandalynn. She’s still plenty sore about how much Lumpkin raised for the race. As of the end of April, according to campaign finance reports, Lumpkin raised over $118,000 and spent over $139,000. Givan raised $43,500 and spent over $22,000.
“What I’ve learned is to value my strength,” she said. “I’ve come to see that I am a strong Black woman. But not only am I a strong Black woman, I am a powerful Black woman, and that if you have to spend this amount of money to try to get me out, I’m a bad girl.”
Later Wednesday, Givan posted again on social media. This time, it was much more Juandalynn. In it, she danced in a white jumper and flowing jacket. The caption read: “I’M STILL STANDING…STILL I RISE.” (Her CAPS.)
Still, she told me: “It’s a time for me to quietly reflect” — think about those words for a sec and who we’re talking about —“on everything that happened over the last few years; I’ve been in a losing season. But with any losing season, eventually you get back to your winning season. So I’m just sitting here hoping that I’ll get back soon with my winning season.”
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Might that season include running for elective office?
“I’m not sure right now,” she said. “Let me get past this, let me absorb the moment.
“Not many people, even going back to the past few years, would have been able to sustain the level of criticism, the impugning of their character, the attempts to strike, to drag, to dilute, to do everything to get me to a point where I would just totally dissipate. Not many people could sustain it.
“Some may think they’ve destroyed me and killed me,” she said. “No, what they have done is energized me.
“I’ve had a hell of a ride for 16 years, and I’m gonna still have a hell of a ride, whatever I venture to do next.”
Whatever it is, it will, of course, be fully Juandalynn.
Whether it makes sense to all of us or not.