MOBILE, Ala. — A longtime City of Mobile employee has jumped into the race for Mobile City Council District 1.
Chamyne Fortune Thompson, a facility supervisor with the city’s Parks & Recreation Department, announced her candidacy Thursday, saying she felt compelled to run after weighing community input.
“After careful consideration and community feedback, I could not ignore the calling,” Thompson said in a press release. “The people of District 1 deserve continued representation that is honest, experienced, and passionate about the citizens and their well-being.”
A Family Legacy of Public Service
Public service runs deep in Thompson’s family. She is the granddaughter of Floretta Grayson Fortune, a respected community leader who spent 54 years serving Mobile’s Parks and Recreation Department as a facility supervisor. She is also the great-niece of the Rev. Joseph Day, a local minister and community activist for whom Tricentennial Park’s Day Lake is named.
Thompson framed her campaign around the challenges she says the city must confront.
“Our city government faces many difficult challenges: lagging infrastructure and community development, decrease in public services, fiscal shortfalls, rising crime, and limited economic opportunities,” she said.