Here are the results for the Wake County municipal races.
Apex Town Council (three seats)
Brett Gantt
Audra Killingsworth
Ed Gray
Apex voters approved the town’s Street and Sidewalk Improvement Bonds.
Fuquay-Varina Mayor + Board of Commissioners (two seats)
Blake Massengill (mayor)
Tracy Watson
Bryan Haynes
Fuquay-Varina voters approved Parks and Recreation Bonds and Transportation Improvement Bonds.
Garner Town Council (two seats)
Gra Singleton
Kathy Behringer
Garner voters approved Street and Sidewalk Improvement Bonds, Parks and Recreational Bonds, Public Safety and Services Facilities Bonds, and Stormwater Bonds.
Holly Springs Mayor + Town Council (three seats)
Sean Mayefskie (mayor)
Dan Berry
Timothy Forrest
Kristi Bennett
Knightdale Mayor + Town Council (three seats)
Jessica Day (mayor)
Steve Evans
Latatious Morris
Mark Swan
Morrisville Mayor + Town Council At-Large, Town Council District 2, Town Council District 4
TJ Cawley (mayor)
Steve Rao (Town Council At-Large)
Donna Fender (District 2)
Vicki Scroggins-Johnson (District 4)
Morrisville voters approved Public Safety Improvement Bonds, Parks and Recreation Improvement Bonds, and Streets, Sidewalks and Connectivity Bonds
Rolesville Board of Commissioners (three seats)
April Sneed
Dan Alston
Paul Vilga
Wake Forest Mayor + Board of Commissioners (two seats)
Vivian Jones (mayor)
R. Keith Shackleford
Nick Sliwinski
Wendell Board of Commissioners (three seats)
John Lutz
Deans Eatman
Jason Joyner
Zebulon Mayor + Board of Commissioners
Glenn York (mayor)
Quentin Miles
Beverly Wall Clark
With early voting results in from the Wake County municipal races, one thing is clear: bonds across the board (in Fuquay-Varina, Garner, and Morrisville) look poised to pass.
Fuqay-Varina has two bonds on the ballot—one for Parks and Recreation and another for Transportation Improvements. Fuquay will also get a new mayor for the first time in 18 years. Fuquay-Varina commissioner Blake Massengill is said to be current mayor John Byrne’s pick, but early voting results show commissioner Bill Harris leading in early voting.
In Garner, four bonds—Parks and Recreation, Public Safety and Services, Stormwater, and Street and Sidewalk Improvements—all look poised to pass. For the town council, incumbents Gra Singleton and Kathy Behringer opened the night with leads in the race for two seats. Challenger Rachel Tourdot is behind both by more than 100 votes.
Morrisville’s bonds—Parks and Recreation, Public Safety and Improvements, and Streets, Sidewalks and Connectivity—have nearly three quarters of the vote in favor in early voting. Mayor TJ Cawley opens the night with a more than 10 point lead, while incumbents, at-large town council member Steve Rao and District 4 town council member Vicki Scroggins-Johnson, have early leads. Donna L. Fender is running unopposed in District 2.
While all the municipal races are non-partisan, Democrats in Apex Brett Gantt and Audra Killingsworth, both incumbents, and newcomer Ed Gray (who ran as a bloc) are running ahead in early voting against their three conservative opponents (who also ran in a bloc), even though those candidates—Christine Hale, Tim Powell, and Gordon Williford—received unprecedented large ($5,000) donations from private school operator Robert L. Luddy.
Holly Springs will be getting a new mayor as Mayor Dick Sears is retiring after five terms. Sean Mayefskie, a Republican who also received a $5,000 donation from Luddy, opened the night ahead of town council member Christine Kelly.
On the Holly Springs town council, incumbent Dan Berry is running ahead with 580 votes but trailed very closely by newcomers Timothy Forrest and Kristi Bennett. Carrie Randa is in fourth place, about 60 votes behind Bennett.
Knightdale Mayor Jessica Day looks very likely to hold onto her seat. She pulled out way ahead early against former town council member Charles Bullock, Sr. For the three town council seats, Steve Evans, Latatious Morris, and Mark Swan are in the lead.
Turnout is low for Rolesville’s three town council seats but so far, April Sneed, Dan Alston, and Paul Vilga lead with 36, 35, and 29 votes respectively.
Wake Forest could have a new mayor by the end of the night. Incumbent mayor Vivian Jones is trailing commissioner Bridget Wall-Lennon, 62 percent to 38 percent so far. R. Keith Shackleford could be the newest commissioner, while incumbent Liz Simpers is in second place.
Wendell’s Board of Commissioners race is low-turnout like Rolesville’s. Incumbent Jon Lutz is trailing incumbent Jason Joyner and newcomers Deans Eatman and Braxton Davis Honeycutt but the margins are too slim to be meaningful.
And in Zebulon, commissioner Glenn York leads Patrick Bolger for mayor 22 to 4. Quentin Miles and commissioner Annie Jean Moore lead for the two open seats with 20 and 11 votes respectively.
Support independent local journalism. Join the INDY Press Club to help us keep fearless watchdog reporting and essential arts and culture coverage viable in the Triangle.
Follow Editor-in-Chief Jane Porter on Twitter or send an email to jporter@indyweek.com.
