Teen elected to Gardendale City Council

Nineteen-year-old Blake Guinn compared winning a seat on Gardendale's City Council last night to the Biblical story of David and Goliath.

"Yes ma'am, I viewed it as David and Goliath. I mean, David stood up when no one would and he won. I was the only that one qualified to run, and I won," Guinn said.

Tuesday, Guinn beat out an incumbent who held the District 2 seat for 16 years by a slim margin, 51 percent to 49 percent.

His says his energy, enthusiasm and the fact that he ran seriously for the office gave him the edge that ended in a victory Tuesday night.

"And not everyone thought I could do it at first. A lot of people told me, you ought to wait," he said.

But that attitude only pushed him harder, making him more determined to put in the time and effort to win the race.

"The main thing was door-to-door, talking to people, going to events, chamber luncheons. I spent days sweating from about eight o'clock in the morning to about eight o'clock at night, and it was those kind of days that really made the difference," Guinn said.

The 19-year-old just graduated in May from Gardendale High School. Guinn says his love for public service goes back to his elementary school days when he wore shirts for Gardendale Senator Scott Beason when he first ran for office.

As he moved on to high school, he was elected student body president. And in January, the then-18-year-old decided to give the run for city council a serious try.

Now that he's elected, Guinn says he wants to focus on growing the city.

"It's about the people and that's how I look at it. I love it, it may be just a start...I don't know," he said.

Councilman Guinn says attending college is in his near future, and he plans to go to UAB next semester. But right now, he wants to focus on making a smooth transition to studying political science, which he'll do from his new council seat once he's sworn in in November.

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