Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin was sworn in for his third term on Tuesday night and, with his toddler daughter Love Lee on his lap, made the future of the city’s children the centerpiece of his message.

Woodfin was flanked by his wife, Kendra, and her teen sons from a previous marriage, Aubrey and Mason, during the ceremony at Boutwell Auditorium.

The national anthem was sung by 12-year-old London Koi, who also performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

Youth was center stage. So was Woodfin’s message.

Woodfin was sworn in by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Shanta Owens at 6:20 p.m., as he handed off Love to his stepsons.

There was some throwback, too, as 2003 American Idol winner Ruben Studdard sang “Flying Without Wings,” whose lyrics seemed a nod to Woodfin’s wedding and fatherhood during his second term in office.

“Everybody’s looking for that something that makes it all complete,” Studdard sang, wearing a sparkling bejeweled black jacket. “Some find it in the faces of their children.”

Two previous mayors were on the stage: William Bell and Bernard Kincaid.

Woodfin said the city’s first Black mayor, Richard Arrington Jr., 91, couldn’t make it because he was out of town for Thanksgiving with relatives.

“I stand on the shoulders of these gentlemen, please give them a round of applause,” Woodfin said.

“I’m more excited than I was eight years ago,” he said.

At one point, his daughter chattered loudly.

“That was Love, everybody,” Woodfin said.

“I see the future of Birmingham looking back at me,” Woodfin said.

“I see it in the eyes of children who are here tonight. I see it in the parents who are fighting for their children in the same way their parents fought for them.”

Woodfin said his third term will have one foundational question: “What does this mean for Birmingham’s children?” he said.

“Not as an afterthought, but as a lens through which we see everything. They will be the ‘why’ that drives every decision we make.”

He summed up the policy emphasis as a theme. “It’s called Cradle to Career,” Woodfin said.

“This isn’t abstract,” Woodfin said. “Our children cannot learn if they’re hungry.”

National policy has been “devoid of love, compassion,” he said, focused instead on “gold-plated ballrooms,” he said, a reference to President Donald Trump’s plan for a new state ballroom at the White House while “threatening to rip away healthcare.”

In the face of SNAP cuts during the federal government shutdown, Birmingham stepped up, “to make sure families are fed this Thanksgiving,” Woodfin said.

“Cradle to Career means caring for the whole child, the whole community,” he said. “You can’t build a pipeline to success on an empty stomach. Our children cannot dream big if they are afraid.”

He said decreasing crime has been part of that.

“Public safety isn’t separate from our education,” Woodfin said.

“It’s foundational to it. We want to be the safest city in America. It is a promise to every child’s parents. Our children are watching the community they deserve take shape.”

The city’s efforts to tear down blight and create safe playgrounds are part of the plan for a better future for children too, he said.

“They’re learning what we think they’re worth,” Woodfin said.

“Every child deserves the right and opportunity to play. They deserve beauty and opportunity right where they live.”

Birmingham Promise, the city’s scholarship program for graduates of Birmingham City Schools, has awarded more than $1 million in tuition assistance to 1,600 students, he said.

“Their city saw them, believed in them and invested in them,” Woodfin said.

Birmingham Promise will be endowed and expanded, “creating a cycle of investment and return,” he said. It’s a long plan for the future, beyond electoral politics and campaign slogans.

“We might never meet the children who reap the benefits,” Woodfin said.

“At the end of the day, Birmingham. That’s what this is about, love,” he said.

“We will fight for our legacy,” Woodfin said. “We are the city that literally changed America. Courage met injustice and courage won.”

The focus on the future of children flows from the civil rights movement, he said.

“We are building a future that every child deserves,” Woodfin said.