By The Horns is a recurring INDY column to help readers get a grip on politics and civic life in Durham.
Early voting in Durham opens on Thursday. That may have slipped your mind because a majority of the candidates on the ballot in Durham are running unopposed in the general election. No city council on the ballot this fall, nor county commissioners. But there are still over 20 individual races to consider, not to mention a handful of consequential constitutional amendments, as well as high-profile state and federal races for U.S. Congress and state Supreme Court.
But even with those important contests, it’s a pretty quiet election season by Durham standards.
Nearly every office in Durham, besides city council, holds party primaries in March, where Democrats, Republicans, and whatever weird third party Andrew Yang is promoting that week duke it out to represent their constituents in the general election. Because Durham predominately votes Democrat—Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won Durham with about 80% of the vote in 2020 and 2024, respectively—nearly every candidate who wins in the March Democratic primary runs unopposed come November.
Without a challenger from another party, those candidates who win their March primaries are largely absolved of campaigning duties the rest of the year, dampening enthusiasm for the general election eight months later.
Back in May, the Durham City Council discussed changing local elections in an attempt to both save money for the city and Durham County by reducing administrative costs, while streamlining the electoral process. At the meeting, Durham Board of Elections members offered four potential solutions, including moving to even-numbered election years for all local elections.
Council members supporting even-numbered years said the interest in top-of-the-ticket races, like governor and president, could spur participation in local races. Adding city council to the mix, which tends to draw the most attention outside of the president, could also help elevate lesser-known offices like soil and water conservation district supervisors or District Court judge.
Raleigh made the switch to even-numbered years after the 2019 election, which sent voter participation in mayoral and city council races skyrocketing. Former Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin won with 20,832 votes in 2019, but by 2024, 132,315 votes were cast for current mayor Janet Cowell. In last year’s Durham mayoral race, only 26,376 ballots were cast. Even adjusting for population size, Durham’s turnout isn’t even close.
Durham County is a blue bubble in North Carolina (duh), which puts it in a unique position alongside its neighbor Orange County. Neither has voted for a Republican president since 1928, other than when Durham went red for Richard Nixon in 1972 (with 61% of the vote, mind you).
The steady growth of Democratic representation has trickled down the ballot. Hardly any Republicans run in local races, and the few that make it through the front door—Durham elected two different Republican mayors in the 1990s—can barely get their shoes off before they’re asked to leave. Republican candidate Terry McCann ran for the city council Ward 3 seat in Durham last fall, earning only 11% of the vote in the October primary.
Durham’s progressive bent is not a given, though. It’s earned year after year. Living in a blue bubble doesn’t absolve Durhamites, or their representatives, from fully participating in the democratic process. There’s no guarantee that moving to even-numbered election years for city council would boost turnout like it did in Raleigh. To drive civic participation, we need candidates whose races are a formality to use their campaigning resources that would otherwise be spent combating opponents to widen the tent and bring more voters into the conversation.
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