On the last day of qualifying, Council President Lonnie Mixon decided to seek election as mayor of Fairhope, running against incumbent Mayor Tim Kant and Chris Warner. Warner ran unsuccessfully for the office in 2008.
In a statement to the Times, Mixon said he decided to run because "many citizens have expressed concern over the lack of choice of candidates ... and I have been asked by quite a few people to consider running."
Mixon cited a major accomplishment of the current city council has been to allow citizens with broad experience and varied backgrounds to provide input to government decisions at may levels via the financial advisory committee, police citizens' advisory committee, budget process, strategic planning and personnel, just to name a few."
"And it is my fear that without good mayoral leadership we will revert to a system of one person controlling everything."
"The mayor must take the initiative to establish a working relationship between the council and the office of mayor."
Mixon decided not to run for re-election as a council member because he had said he would only seek one term there (among other reasons), according to press reports.