Municipal Election Season Has Begun

What that means, why it matters for housing, and who’s on the ballot across the Triangle

It’s municipal election season in the Triangle, which means voters across dozens of towns and cities are about to choose their local leaders.

In North Carolina, most municipal elections take place in odd-numbered years (like now in 2025) and decide local races for towns and cities. Think mayors, city councils, town commissioners.

Municipal leaders shape how our neighborhoods grow every time they vote to approve (or not) rezonings, update development rules, and decide where new homes are allowed to be built. While Congress gets more airtime, it’s actually your local leaders who determine where you can live.

Whether its about a duplex down the street, an apartment near transit, or that affordable housing proposal next door, these local decisions add up to the kind of region we become. If we want to build a future that’s more welcoming, walkable, and sustainable, it starts with the choices voters make this fall.

Cities and towns across Wake, Durham, Orange, and Chatham counties will vote for their leaders this year. Each one is important; smaller towns play an outsized role in housing policy too. In a dispersed, sprawling region like ours, every town's development rules shape whether the Triangle grows outward with sprawl or inward with walkable neighborhoods. That's why it's crucial to keep an eye on what's happening not just in cities like Durham or Chapel Hill, but also in places like Apex, Garner, Hillsborough, and Pittsboro.

Remember: Raleigh won't hold an election this year. The city moved its municipal elections to even-numbered years starting in 2022. With new staggered terms for council members starting in 2026, we'll be covering those races next year.

This fall, voters will help set the course for how and where the Triangle grows. While the issues may look local, the impact is regional. Durham, in particular, is rewriting its entire development code this year, a rare chance to modernize outdated rules and make housing more accessible and equitable. If we want to live in cities and towns that welcome new neighbors and support a thriving, inclusive future, these elections are a crucial component.

That's why CITYBUILDER will be providing housing-specific updates throughout the election season.

Key Election Dates for 2025:

Fall Primary Early Voting (Durham)
Thursday, September 18th - Saturday, October 4th

Fall Primary Election Day (Durham)
Tuesday, October 7th

Voter Registration Deadline:
Friday, October 10th

Municipal Election Early Voting:
Thursday, October 16th - Saturday, November 1st

Municipal Election Day:
Tuesday, November 4th

We'll be back later this season with our full voter guide, once we've had a chance to dig into where each candidate stands on housing and land use.

Stay tuned! we're excited to help you make an informed choice.

For now, here’s who is officially in the running:

This list reflects all candidates who filed to run in this year’s municipal elections, as reported by local boards of elections. Filing has now closed, and these are the names that will appear on the ballot.

DURHAM

This year, Durham is the only major city in the Triangle holding a primary, because more than two candidates filed for some City Council seats, triggering a nonpartisan primary ahead of the general election. So campaigning will be at your door sooner than you think.

That’s because housing and development will be a key election issue. The city has had a series of contentious rezonings with both pro-housing and anti-housing candidates currently running for re-election and challengers. And of course this is happening at the same time as Durham is midway through a full rewrite of its development code, as Dave Olverson has been covering.

Durham Mayor

6 candidates are running for 1 seat.
Top two from primary will be on the ballot election day.

Leonardo (Leo) Williams (incumbent)
Anjanee Bell
Rafiq Zaidi
Angela (Janie Love) Reddick
Lloyd A. Phillips
Pablo Friedmann

Durham City Council Ward I

6 candidates are running for 1 seat.
Top two from primary will be on the ballot election day.

DeDreana Freeman (incumbent)
Elijah King
Andrea Cazales
Matt Kopac
Sheryl Smith
Samaria McKenzie

Durham City Council Ward II

3 candidates are running for 1 seat.
Top two from primary will be on the ballot election day.

Mark-Anthony Middleton (incumbent)
Shanetta Burris
Ashley N. Robbins

Durham City Council Ward III

4 candidates are running for 1 seat.
Top two from primary will be on the ballot election day.

Chelsea Cook (incumbent)
Terry McCann
Durant Long
Diana Medoff

With Durham being an influential race across the Triangle, we’ll be focused closely on these races, but are also listing the candidates who have filed to run in other Triangle municipalities as well (listed below alphabetically by town).

By the way: Want to help build a more welcoming Triangle?
Share this candidate roundup with a neighbor, coworker, or friend who might not follow local elections closely. Every shared post helps grow the coalition for better housing.

APEX

All Apex races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Apex Mayors race is on staggered terms and won’t be until 2027.

Apex Town Council (3 seats)

8 candidates are running for 3 seats. As one of the fastest growing towns in Wake County, candidates have already made it clear that housing and growth are key election issues.

Ed Gray (incumbent)
Shane Reese
Sue Mu
Andre Powell
Mary Miskimon
TJ Evans
Aditya Ahlawat
Kyrone Nebolisa

CARRBORO

All Carrboro races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Carrboro Mayor

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Barbara Foushee (incumbent)
Joe H. Lloyd, Jr.

Carrboro Town Council

3 candidates are running for 3 seats (uncontested).

Cristobal Palmer (incumbent)
Danny Nowell (incumbent)
Fred Joiner

CARY

As of this election year, Cary no longer has a primary runoff prior to the general election. All Cary races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Cary Mayoral race is on staggered terms and won’t be until 2027.

Though these races are all technically non-partisan, Cary’s council races see competition from Democrats and Republicans alike, with affordable housing, development pressures and cost of living being key issues across party lines.

Cary Town Council At-Large

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Carissa Johnson (incumbent)
Marjorie K. Eastman

Cary Town Council District A

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Jennifer Robinson (incumbent)
Brittany Richards

Cary Town Council District C

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Renee Miller
Bella Huang

CHAPEL HILL

All Chapel Hill races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Chapel Hill Mayor

1 candidate is running for 1 seat (uncontested). Jess Anderson (incumbent).

Chapel Hill Town Council

6 candidates are running for 4 seats. This is one of the only contested races in this western part of the Triangle this year and will be one to watch. Last election cycle in 2023 was the first time we saw the council majority shift to be pro-housing.

Camille Berry (incumbent)
Paris Miller-Foushee (incumbent)
Erik Valera
Jon Mitchell
Wes McMahon
Louie Rivers III

Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education

4 candidates are running for 3 seats. This should be an active race. With housing and schools being deeply connected issues, let us know if you want us to talk about these too.

Riza Jenkins (incumbent)
George Griffin (incumbent)
Lynnee Argabright
Melinda Manning

CLAYTON

All Clayton races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Clayton Town Council

6 candidates are running for 3 seats. As I-540 is completed, housing development, and the conversations around growth, have rapidly extended to Johnston County.

Andria Archer (incumbent)
Porter Casey, Jr. (incumbent)
Dan Barbour
Keith Branch
Jason E. Carter
Amanda Underwood

FUQUAY-VARINA

All Fuquay-Varina races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Fuquay-Varina Mayor

2 candidates are running for 1 seat. Re-match of 2021 election. with what are sure to be critical conversations on housing and growth.

Blake Massengill (incumbent)
William (Bill) Harris

Fuquay-Varina Board of Commissioners

4 candidates are running for 2 seats.

Bryan Haynes (incumbent)
Nolan Ray Perry
Gage Cook
Kristopher Vorren

GARNER

All Garner races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Garner Mayors race is on staggered terms and won’t be until 2027.

Garner Town Council At-Large

6 candidates are running for 2 seats. With Garner recently being ranked amongst the fastest growing towns in the entire country, this election is all about growth, infrastructure investments, transportation and housing.

Gra Singleton (incumbent)
Kathy Behringer (incumbent)
Rex Whaley
Mike McIver
Patricia T. Uzzell
Kelvin Stallings

HILLSBOROUGH

All Hillsborough races are uncontested, so we won’t see anything new here.

Hillsborough Mayor

1 candidate is running for 1 seat (uncontested). Mark Bell (incumbent)

Hillsborough Town Board of Commissioners

2 candidates are running for 2 seats (uncontested).

Kathleen Ferguson (incumbent)
Robb English (incumbent)

HOLLY SPRINGS

All Holly Springs races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Another fast growing town, situated with access to Raleigh and RTP, the Holly Springs candidates will be talking about housing, growth and planning for development.

Holly Springs Mayor

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Sean Mayefskie (incumbent)
Mike Kondratick

Holly Springs Town Council

6 candidates are running for 3 seats.

Annie Drees (incumbent)
Tim Forrest (incumbent)
Joe Cuccurullo
Josh Prizer
Kara Foster
Sarah Larson

KNIGHTDALE

All Knightdale races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Knightdale Town Council

5 candidates are running for 3 seats. With several incumbents running to maintain their seats, they’ll likely keep the conversation focused on housing affordability, land use and growth.

Steve Evans (incumbent)
Mark Swan (incumbent)
Latatious Morris (incumbent)
Grady Bussey
Shannon Russell Hardy

MORRISVILLE

All Morrisville races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Morrisville races are important to watch. As the closest city to RTP, right between Raleigh and Durham, Morrisville actually has a greater population density than Raleigh and is consistently one of the most diverse towns in the region.

Morrisville Mayor

3 candidates are running for 1 seat.

TJ Cawley (incumbent)
Richard Reinhart
Satish Garimella

Morrisville Town Council At-Large

4 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Subba Reddy Madireddy
Liz Dann
Harrison Kesling
Pete Martin

Morrisville Town Council District 2

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Jashi Abhirajan
Ashit Patel

Morrisville Town Council District 4

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Patty W. Cheng
Vicki Scroggins-Johnson (incumbent)

PITTSBORO

All Pittsboro races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Pittsboro Mayor

1 candidate is running for 1 seat (uncontested). Kyle Shipp (incumbent)

Pittsboro Board of Commissioners

8 candidates are running for 2 seats. With multiple national housing projects (including Disney) happening in Chatham County in the next several years, this small election might be one to follow, especially since the seats are open.

Candace Hunziker
Alex M. Brinker
Freda Alston
Corey Forrest
Tiana Thurber
Nikkolas Shramek
Ashley Gross
Tobais Palmer

ROLESVILLE

Rolesville Board of Commissioners

3 candidates are running for 3 seats (uncontested).

April Sneed (incumbent)
Dan Tyrone Alston (incumbent)
Jennifer Bernat

WAKE FOREST

All Wake Forest races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Wake Forest Mayor

2 candidates are running for 1 seat.

Vivian Jones (incumbent)
Ben Clapsaddle

Wake Forest Board of Commissioners

5 candidates are running for 3 seats. Wake Forest faces development pressure as Raleigh continues to expand north of I-540. Candidates have already signaled growth and preservation of historic charm (essentially housing development) will be a key decision point for this race.

Nick Sliwinski (incumbent)
R. Keith Shackleford (incumbent)
Jasmine Zavala
Haseeb Fatmi
Thomas Dement
Pam James

WENDELL

All Wendell races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Wendell Mayors race is on staggered terms and won’t be until 2027.

Wendell Board of Commissioners

8 candidates are running for 3 seats. With recent mixed use development in downtown Wendell and around Wendell Falls, this town has already signaled housing and allowing growth to continue will be on the ballot.

Deans Eatman (incumbent)
Wes Jones
B.J. Barham
Kate Benson
Dustin Ingalls
Jorge Cordova
Philip Tarnaski
Christopher M. Critzer

ZEBULON

All Zebulon races will appear on the November 4 general election ballot. Early voting runs October 16–November 1.

Zebulon Mayor

5 candidate is running for 1 seat. This looks like it could be one of the most highly contested races in the region, and conversations that are sure to include growth and housing pressures in the town.

Glenn York (incumbent mayor)
Gilbert Todd, Jr. (former town manager)
Shannon Baxter (current town commissioner)
Larry R. Loucks (former town commissioner)
Jessica Daniels Harrison (current town commissioner)

Zebulon Town Board of Commissioners

6 candidates are running for 2 seats (uncontested).

George D. Roa
Trenton Schmit
Jesse Brown
Milton Robinson III
Davarus Gardner
Quentin Miles

Interested in a race we didn’t list?
NC Board of Elections has a comprehensive list of all filed candidates here.

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CITYBUILDER is your home for housing-first election coverage across the Triangle. Want to help us track candidate positions, host a voter meetup, or share a tip? Email us at citybuildernc@gmail.com
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