Montgomery mayor edits father Joe Reed out of statement after incorrectly calling him a plaintiff in Alabama redistricting case

The mayor's office confirmed the error to Tread on Friday afternoon

Mayor Steven Reed shakes hands with former Republican Sen. Richard Shelby. (Mayor’s office)

Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed has issued a revised statement on the Supreme Court’s decision in Allen v. Milligan, a ruling which held that Alabama’s congressional voting map likely violates Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.

An initial statement by the mayor had erroneously included a reference to his father, Joe Reed, as a plaintiff in the case. The statement, which lauded Montgomery as the only city in the state to sign an amicus brief in support of Black voters’ challenge to Alabama’s voting map, called Reed and the other plaintiffs in the case “Alabama heroes.”

Reed’s initial statement on Twitter, which has since been deleted.

A day later, Reed’s office had deleted the statement posted to the mayor’s official Twitter account. It was later reposted without the reference to Reed’s father.

Reed’s new statement edited out any reference to his father, Joe Reed.

In a statement to Tread, Reed’s director of communications said the change was made because of a factual error caused by a reliance on “a very trusted source.”

“It was our mistake. We received information from a very trusted source that Dr. Reed was a plaintiff, but his office corrected us late yesterday. I apologize for this oversight.

Please find below an updated statement from Mayor Reed that reflects the fact that his father, Dr. Reed, was not a plaintiff in this case. I apologize for the error and any extra work on your end. However, Montgomery was indeed the ONLY ALABAMA city to sign the amicus brief.”

Actual plaintiffs in the successful challenge of Alabama’s voting map included Evan Milligan, Shalela Dowdy, Letetia Jackson, Khadidah Stone, Adia Winfrey, Greater Birmingham Ministries, and the Alabama State Conference of the NAACP. Winfrey was later dismissed as a plaintiff, court records show.

Joe L. Reed heads the Alabama Democratic Conference, the minority caucus of the Alabama Democratic Party. He is a central figure in ongoing disputes over control of the state party.

Most recently, Reed and his allies successfully eliminated the party’s youth, LGBTQ+ and disabled caucuses — groups created after officials with the Democratic National Committee threatened to limit Alabama Democrats’ role in the presidential nomination process. Reed had called the new caucuses “corrupt.”

A message left for Joe Reed was not immediately returned Friday afternoon.

NOTE: After this article’s initial publication, Mayor Reed posted an additional tweet on his personal account concerning the Supreme Court’s decision. The new tweet referenced his father but did not refer to him as a plaintiff in the case.