Bessemer Voters Just Sent a Message. Birmingham Should Pay Attention.

AL.com, ABC 33/40 and NPR are reporting that Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley, who held the office for four terms, lost his job Tuesday night.

Gulley signed nondisclosure agreements with the developer of Project Marvel, the hyperscale data center planned for Bessemer.

His chief of staff and the city attorney signed them too. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, those agreements included a clause requiring city officials to destroy communications the developer considered "confidential."

Voters noticed.

Former state legislator and councilwoman Louise Alexander took 54.5 percent to Gulley's 45.5, in unofficial returns with 11 of 12 precincts reporting.

Alexander said the data center played a big part in the race. In District 6, the city council member who voted for the data center's rezoning lost too, by 64 to 36.

Project Marvel would draw about 1,200 megawatts. That is roughly 90 times the power used by every home in Bessemer combined.

Bessemer's mayor is only the latest in a growing list of local officials who have been turned out of office at least in part for their support of hyperscale data centers in their communities.

Read the full story at ab4.us/GulleyDefeated