Samuel Leon Jones is serving his first term as mayor of his hometown, Mobile

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

, Alabama. He is Mobile's first African American mayor. He ran on a platform of safety, efficient government, historic preservation

Historic preservation

Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...

 and bringing employers to the city.

Jones is a graduate of Central High School and attended Florida Junior College

Florida Community College at Jacksonville

Florida State College at Jacksonville is a state college in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S., and part of the Florida College System. It is one of several institutions in the Florida College System designated a "state college", as it offers a greater number of four-year bachelor's degrees than...

 and Jacksonville University

Jacksonville University

Jacksonville University is a private university in Jacksonville, Florida, on the banks of the St. Johns River. The school was founded in 1934 as a two year college and was known as Jacksonville Junior College until 1958, when it shifted its focus to four-year university degrees and adopted its...

 in Jacksonville

Jacksonville, Florida

Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...

, Florida. He spent nine years in the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, where he served aboard the aircraft carrier

Aircraft carrier

An aircraft carrier is a warship designed with a primary mission of deploying and recovering aircraft, acting as a seagoing airbase. Aircraft carriers thus allow a naval force to project air power worldwide without having to depend on local bases for staging aircraft operations...

 USS Forrestal. While he was in the military, his commanding officer was John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

. He next served as the executive director of Mobile Community Action, Inc. from 1980 until 1987. He was elected to four terms as a Mobile County

Mobile County, Alabama

Mobile County[p] is a county of the U.S. state of Alabama. Its name is in honor of a tribe of Indians, the Maubila tribe . As of 2011, its population was 415,704. Its county seat is Mobile, Alabama...

 Commissioner before being elected Mayor of Mobile in September 2005.

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