Sheila Tyson

Sheila Tyson

Democratic Party

Jefferson County Commission District 2

Tenure

2018 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

7

Prior offices:

Birmingham City Council District 6

Years in office: 2013 - 2018

Successor: Crystal Smitherman (Nonpartisan)

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Report an officeholder change

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

High school

West End High School

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Army

Personal

Profession

Bookkeeper

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

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Campaign Instagram

Personal Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Sheila Tyson (Democratic Party) is a member of the Jefferson County Commission, Alabama, representing District 2. She assumed office on November 13, 2018. Her current term ends on November 9, 2026.

Tyson (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Jefferson County Commission, Alabama to represent District 2. She won in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Tyson was the nonpartisan District 6 representative on the Birmingham City Council in Alabama from 2013 to 2018.

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Tyson graduated from West End High School and served in the United States Army. Her professional experience includes bookkeeping, community organizing, and accounting.

Elections

2022

See also: Municipal elections in Jefferson County, Alabama (2022)

General election

General election for Jefferson County Commission District 2

Incumbent Sheila Tyson won election in the general election for Jefferson County Commission District 2 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sheila Tyson (D)	99.0	29,576
		Other/Write-in votes	1.0	302

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 29,878
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Jefferson County Commission District 2

Incumbent Sheila Tyson defeated Steve Small Jr. in the Democratic primary for Jefferson County Commission District 2 on May 24, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sheila Tyson	86.5	13,042
	Submit photo	Steve Small Jr.	13.5	2,036

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 15,078
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

General election

General election for Jefferson County Commission District 2

Sheila Tyson won election in the general election for Jefferson County Commission District 2 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sheila Tyson (D)	99.1	40,344
		Other/Write-in votes	0.9	386

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 40,730 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for Jefferson County Commission District 2

Sheila Tyson defeated incumbent Sandra Little Brown in the Democratic primary runoff for Jefferson County Commission District 2 on July 17, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sheila Tyson	52.6	6,262
	Submit photo	Sandra Little Brown	47.4	5,649

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 11,911
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Jefferson County Commission District 2

Incumbent Sandra Little Brown and Sheila Tyson advanced to a runoff. They defeated Richard Dickerson in the Democratic primary for Jefferson County Commission District 2 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Sandra Little Brown	46.5	9,246
✔		Sheila Tyson	46.2	9,188
	Submit photo	Richard Dickerson	7.3	1,444

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 19,878
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Steve Small Jr. (D)

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Birmingham, Alabama (2017)

The city of Birmingham, Alabama, held elections for mayor and city council on August 22, 2017. A runoff was held on October 3, 2017. The filing deadline for candidates who wished to run in this election was July 7, 2017.

Incumbent Sheila Tyson defeated Keith Mims and Keith Williams in the Birmingham City Council District 6 general election.

Birmingham City Council, District 6 General Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Sheila Tyson Incumbent	79.49%	3,140
Keith Mims	15.19%	600
Keith Williams	5.32%	210
Total Votes		3,950
Source: City of Birmingham, "General Election Results," August 29, 2017

Campaign themes

2022

Sheila Tyson did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2017

See also: Ballotpedia's municipal government candidate survey

Tyson participated in Ballotpedia's 2017 survey of municipal government candidates. The following sections display her responses to the survey questions. When asked what her top priority would be if elected, the candidate made the following statement:

“	Redevelopment of district 6	”
—Sheila Tyson (July 20, 2017)

Ranking the issues

The candidate was asked to rank the following issues by importance in the city, with 1 being the most important and 12 being the least important: city services (trash, utilities, etc.), civil rights, crime reduction/prevention, environment, government transparency, homelessness, housing, K-12 education, public pensions/retirement funds, recreational opportunities, transportation, and unemployment. This table displays this candidate's rankings from most to least important.

Issue importance ranking
Candidate's ranking	Issue	Candidate's ranking	Issue
1	Housing	7	Public pensions/retirement funds
2	Crime reduction/prevention	8	Transportation
3	City services (trash, utilities, etc.)	9	Civil rights
4	Unemployment	10	Government transparency
5	K-12 education	11	Environment
6	Homelessness	12	Recreational opportunities

Nationwide municipal issues

The candidate was asked to answer questions from Ballotpedia regarding issues facing cities across America. The questions are in the left column and the candidate's responses are in the right column. Some questions provided multiple choices, which are noted after those questions.

Question	Response
Is it important for the city’s budget to be balanced?Answer options: Not important; Not important, but required by state law; A little important; A little important, but required by state law; Important; Very important	Very important
Which level of government do you feel should set a minimum wage?Answer options: None, Local, State, Federal	Local
What do you think is the best way to improve a city’s public safety? Candidates could write their own answer or choose from the following options: Increased economic opportunities, Increased police presence/activity, Harsher penalties for offenders, Public outreach/education programs	Increased economic opportunities
How do you think your city should emphasize economic development? Candidates could write their own answer or choose from the following options: Changing zoning restrictions, Create a more competitive business climate, Focusing on small business development, Instituting a citywide minimum wage, Recruiting new businesses to your city, Regulatory and licensing reforms, and tax reform	Recruiting new businesses to your city
What is the one thing you’re most proud of about your city?	Business development
What is the one thing you’d most like to change about your city?	Increase economic opportunity

Campaign finance summary

Ballotpedia currently provides campaign finance data for all federal- and state-level candidates from 2020 and later. We are continuously working to expand our data to include prior elections. That information will be published here as we acquire it. If you would like to help us provide this data, please consider donating to Ballotpedia.

See also

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Jefferson County Commission District 2

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by -	Jefferson County Commission District 2 2018-Present	Succeeded by -
Preceded by -	Birmingham City Council District 6 2013-2018	Succeeded by Crystal Smitherman