NEWBERN, Ala. (AP) — The first Black mayor of a tiny Alabama town overwhelmingly won election this week, four years after white residents locked him out of the town hall and refused to let him serve.

Incumbent Mayor Patrick Braxton was elected as the mayor of Newbern, winning 66 votes to his opponent’s 26, according to results posted by the town. His victory puts a punctuation mark in the dispute over control of the town government that drew national attention.

“The people came out and spoke and voted. Now, there ain’t no doubt what they want for this town,” Braxton said in a telephone interview Wednesday night.

The election Tuesday was the town’s first since at least the 1960s, held under a federal settlement. Black residents had sued, challenging what they called the town’s “hand-me-d

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