| David Goins | |
| Birth Date: | 26 July 1960 |
| Office: | Mayor of Alton, Illinois |
| Predecessor: | Brant Walker |
| Term Start: | May 12, 2021 |
| Spouse: | Sheila Goins |
| Children: | 3 |
| Education: | B.A. College of the Ozarks |
David Goins (born July 26, 1960) is an American politician who was elected in 2021 as the first African American mayor of Alton, Illinois.[1] [2]
Goins was born on July 26, 1960, the son of Mark and Opal Goins.[3] His mother died in 1967 and his father died in 1971.[3] He was raised thereafter by his grandparents.[3] In 1978, he graduated from Alton High School.[3] In 1983, he graduated from the College of the Ozarks on a full basketball scholarship with a B.A. in English.[3] After school, he worked as a detention officer and correctional officer at the Madison County Department of Court and Probation Services.[3] In 1986, he joined the Alton Police Department reaching sergeant in 1999.[3] He retired as a police office in 2010.[3] in 2017, he was elected to the Alton school board.[3]
In 2021, Goins entered the race for mayor of Alton on a platform focusing on the recruitment of new businesses, job growth, the revitalization of the downtown, COVID-19 vaccinations, and the encouragement of recent college graduates to return to the city.[3] He was supported by the local unions.[4] On April 6, 2021, Goins was elected mayor of Alton defeating two-term Mayor Brant Walker 2,021-1,625 to become the first African-American mayor[3] since the city's founding in 1818. In 2019, Alton was 68.7% white, 24.9% Black, 0.4% Asian, 1.6% Latino, and 4.3% multi-racial.[5] He was sworn in on May 12, 2021.[3] In July 2021, Illinois Governor J. B. Pritzker appointed Goins to the Central Port District Board.[6] Upon taking office, he faced 8.5% unemployment, the loss or closure of over 200 businesses due to Covid, and a budget shortfall fueled by underfunded public employees' pensions.[7]
In 1985, he married Sheila Goins; they have three children.[3] Since 2001, he has served as a pastor at the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Alton.[3] In 2018, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.[3]