Tuesday, voters in 18 counties trickled to the polls in the second of three sets of elections this fall to elect the leaders of North Carolina’s cities and towns.
The first round of elections in September decided which candidates would move forward to the general election in partisan contests, including Charlotte’s mayoral and city council races.
Some of Tuesday’s elections decided which candidates made it past the primaries in nonpartisan contests. Others were general elections — in those, candidates who got over 50% of the vote won, while races where no candidate earned a majority set up the possibility of a runoff election in November. Any runoff elections would be held on Nov. 4, the same day as all other general municipal elections.
[Subscribe for FREE to Carolina Public Press’ alerts and weekend roundup newsletters]
Each locality had its own, unique set of issues on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. Among the issues considered were how to preserve the safety, infrastructure and character of local communities amidst statewide growth and development pressure, as well as maintaining fiscal responsibility.
Turnout was slightly higher than usual in most nonpartisan municipal races Tuesday, although it still ranged from about 10% of registered voters on the low end in Fayetteville to 30% on the high end in Louisburg.
Final result or runoff?
Louisburg Mayor Christopher Neal was wrong. His re-election race will not go to a runoff, after securing 56% of the vote in a three-way fight. His winning margin will save the town upwards of $10,000.
Louisburg leaders were angry earlier this year when the North Carolina General Assembly passed a law that changed their municipal mayoral elections from a plurality system without runoffs to a majority system where second elections are possible.
Nobody knew about the late-added provision until it was too late to do anything about it. Still, nobody will own up to the change.
Before Tuesday, Neal was confident that the mayoral election would end in an expensive runoff. But he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore — at least not this election cycle.
North Carolina law states that nonpartisan municipal elections are majority rule, meaning that if no candidate wins over 50% of the votes, the race might be decided in a runoff election. In this case, the second place candidate is allowed to request a second election, in which only the first and second place candidates’ names appear on the ballot.
In offices where more than one candidate is chosen at once, like some city council races, the majority threshold depends on the number of people running. Similarly, if not enough candidates meet that threshold, then losing candidates may request a runoff.
In New Bern, Mayor Jeffrey Odham narrowly missed the majority threshold in his four-way race. Second-place finisher Holly Raby finished about 400 votes behind, but could ask for a runoff.
Trey Ferguson easily won an open seat in the city’s first alderman ward, and was joined by Sharon Bryant, Bobby Aster, Lainy White, Barbara Best and Dana Edwards Outlaw on the board. Bryant and White only got plurality wins though, putting them at risk of a runoff. White defeated incumbent Johnnie Ray Kinsey by 48 votes. Aster and Best are current aldermen.
New Bern voters also had three bond referendums to weigh in on. They overwhelmingly approved of the combined $24-million effort to improve the city’s streets and sidewalks, parks and recreation offerings and stormwater infrastructure.
In Roxboro, the seat of Person County, current Mayor Merilyn Newell did not run, making space for a three-way battle for her seat. The victor was current mayor pro temp Cynthia Petty, who will get the chance to be a full-time mayor with 55% of the vote.
The three city council incumbents who ran for reelection — Shaina Blackwell Outlaw, Mark Phillips and Tim Chandler — were joined by newcomers Dustin Brann and Kendra Coggins as winners.
In Henderson, located in Vance County, voters chose their next board of aldermen. While incumbents Lamont Neal and Garry Daeke won their second and third ward seats back handily, respectively, two other incumbents fell short.
In the first ward, Kenia Gomez-Jimenez bested three competitors, including incumbent Sara Coffey. In the fourth ward, Catherine Gill outran current alderman Ola Thorpe-Cooper and a third candidate. However, no candidate garnered a majority of the votes in the fourth ward, so Thorpe-Cooper could request a runoff.
Elizabeth City Mayor Kirk Rivers won reelection in a landslide, and so did several city councilmembers. Joseph Peel, Johnson Biggs, Javis Gibbs, Rose Marie Cartwright, Kem Spence and Katherine Felton easily kept their spots on city council.
However, Tim Jackson bested current council member Ronnie Morris by one vote in the fourth ward contest. Another council member, Johnnie Walton, placed a close third in the two-person seat, setting off a likely runoff.
Finally, in Rocky Mount, Charles “Verb” Roberson strode past competitors Carl Revis, Bronson Williams and four others to win the open third ward City Council seat.
Incumbents Tom Harris and Jabaris Walker won in the sixth and seventh wards.
Making it to November for voters’ final decisions
Several of North Carolina’s largest cities held nonpartisan primary elections Tuesday, including Greensboro, Durham and Fayetteville.
In Greensboro, Marikay Abuzuaiter and Robbie Perkins will vie for outgoing Mayor Nancy Vaughan’ seat after taking the top spots on the leaderboard Tuesday. Abuzuaiter is on the current city council.
Across the board, incumbent council members made it to the general election, including Hugh Holston and Jamilla Pinder in the at-large district and Zack Matheny in District 3. Pinder and Matheny placed fourth and second, however. In District 2, Cecile Crawford and Monica Walker will move on, and in District 4, Adam Marshall and Nicky Smith will continue.
Further south in Fayetteville, there were crowded primaries.
Fayetteville Mayor Mitch Colvin and Kathy Keefe Jenson will face off in the general election after fending off eight other candidates. Current City Council members Malik Davis, Brenda McNair and Deno Hondros placed first in their primaries, and will be joined by second-placers Gail Morfesis, Kathy Greggs and Joe McGee in November, respectively.
The Fayetteville City Council District 1 and District 8 races had only newcomers competing; Stephon Ferguson and James Thomas III will progress in the former, while Shaun McMillan and Rodney Garvin will in the latter.
Voters in three counties — Durham, Orange and Wake — headed to the polls for the Durham mayoral and city council primaries.
Mayor Leonardo Williams came out on top with a 26-point lead over second-place finisher Anjanee Bell. The pair will match up again next month in the general election.
City Councilmember Chelsea Cook had a similarly dominant run in Ward 3. She will face Diana Medoff.
Other councilmembers Mark-Anthony Middleton and DeDreana Freeman cannot say the same. They placed second to Shanetta Burris and Matt Kopac, respectively, and will hope their odds with voters are better in November.
Hickory and Asheboro held contests of their own.
Hickory held one primary: the fifth ward alderman. Five people filed to run, and Arnita Dula and David Zagaroli will advance. Despite the nonpartisan label of the race, Dula is the known Democratic choice, while Zagaroli is the Republican choice.
In Asheboro, the current mayor did not run, but two current council members, Joey Trogdon and Eddie Burks, secured their spots in the general election next month. Councilmember Kelly Heath also made it in the city council contest. However, another current council member, William McCaskill, placed only 7th in the 15-way city council primary, which is not enough to progress to the general election.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. You may republish our stories for free, online or in print. Simply copy and paste the article contents from the box below. Note, some images and interactive features may not be included here.
