None of the three candidates running to represent the Raleigh City Council’s District A fit neatly into a box.
There’s an incumbent who’s disillusioned with business-as-usual city politics. An anti-displacement advocate who has the support of deep-pocketed developers. And a Republican who says he “ought to be the poster child for Livable Raleigh,” a left-leaning neighborhood activists’ group.
On a Tuesday evening in September, they sit elbow-to-elbow inside a North Hills community center and introduce themselves to an expectant group of about 60 voters.
First up is Whitney Hill, 68, a small business owner who ran for this seat in 2022 and got 29 percent of the vote. He launches into a speech about how crime is up and the police force needs more officers. Housing is his other top issue, and he reflects on how regular people can’t afford to live in Raleigh anymore.
“I love this community,” he says in closing, “and I want to keep it what it used to be.”
Next is Mitchell Silver, Raleigh’s top city planner for nine years before moving to New York to run that city’s parks system for another seven. Silver returned to Raleigh in 2021 and works for an urban planning consulting firm.
Silver explains that he literally wrote the books on how to manage Raleigh’s growth—namely, the 2030 Comprehensive Plan and Unified Development Ordinance.
“I want to use those years of leadership to help guide this city forward,” Silver says.
His resume includes advising cities on how to better serve marginalized communities and meaningfully engage the public. He pitches himself as “an expert public engagement facilitator” and “a consensus builder.”
Incumbent councilmember Mary Black is the last to speak.
“I have served with a community-minded, environmentally-minded, and people-minded focus,” she says.
Black was elected in 2022 as part of a cohort of four newcomers, all progressive millennial women. Her professional background is in social media strategy and environmental justice activism. Since joining the council, she’s advocated for launching an alternative response program (stalled), restoring citizen advisory councils (or CACs, successful), improving conditions and pay for city workers (ongoing), and passing a Gaza ceasefire resolution (failed).
Black and Silver, both Democrats, agree on many issues. But they differ noticeably on background and style.
Black presents herself as an activist, anti-establishment voice on council. As a 30-year-old, a renter, and a woman of color, she brings a perspective long missing from the upper reaches of city government. On a personal level, she’s more relatable and down-to-earth than many politicians. Case in point: her arrival to the candidate forum is delayed by an ill-timed car-booting. She arrives in Birkenstocks and socks.
In contrast, Silver, 64, has the air of someone who has never committed a parking violation in his life. One astute District A resident remarks that Silver “exudes competence,” and it’s true, from his polished, business-casual attire to his measured, precise manner of speaking. At the forum, he looks professorial in his eyeglasses and dark blue jacket. Although this is his first-time running for elected office, he has decades of government experience under his belt.
Though District A leans older and more conservative, it’s still dominated by Democrats who will likely discount Hill at face value. That leaves them with a choice between Black, who proudly colors outside the lines, and Silver, who takes equal pride in working within the system to get things done.
Housing, affordability, and Raleigh’s rapid growth are among voters’ top concerns this election cycle, and District A is no different. INDY asked all three candidates how they’d address these issues if elected.
Silver touted his expertise and argues that the city already has a solid roadmap to accommodate its population growth—we just need to stick to it. He says he’s proud to have established the 2030 Comprehensive Plan, published in 2009. It lays out a vision of Raleigh as a “polycentric city” with eight “growth centers” connected by 12 “multimodal corridors.” As the city grew, new density was supposed to be concentrated in specific areas including Downtown, Midtown, the Village District, and Brier Creek. The corridors connecting them would accommodate cars as well as public transportation.
“That blueprint allowed us to grow in a very logical and predictable way,” Silver says. “The intent was to allow growth and density in those places so we can protect the established neighborhoods.”
But after he left, Silver says Raleigh leaders didn’t necessarily follow the blueprint he laid out.
“We need to have difficult conversations with the public, to explain … why we need to urbanize our downtown and midtown to alleviate pressure and stabilize our tax base, so we don’t see these large property tax increases we just witnessed this year,” Silver says.
Silver points to the Village District as an example of strategically adding housing development. Allowing more density around the shopping center and redesigning Hillsborough Street made the area walkable and reduced car traffic, he says.
Silver is sensitive to the fact that some development happening in Raleigh comes at the expense of lower-income, legacy residents. He proposes an “anti-displacement strategy,” something he’s helped other cities implement. Raleigh’s strategy could include trust funds to help improve homes and address code enforcement issues, and an option for property tax relief so if land values go up, residents aren’t burdened with additional taxes.
Hill agrees with Silver, at least in theory, that Raleigh needs more housing for its growing population.
”We’ve got to be building everywhere, and I’m for high density housing downtown inside the Beltline,” Hill says.
But Hill opposes the city’s missing middle zoning, which allows for multi-unit development in formerly single-family-only areas. To him, “missing middle” evokes changing neighborhoods and diminished property values.
“I don’t necessarily want a multi-unit next door to me,” Hill says. “When I bought my house, I bought into a particular motif as far as what my neighborhood was going to be.”
Hill says he supports streamlining the permitting process for developers and building on unused land. He’s concerned about rising property taxes and questions whether the city is spending tax revenues wisely.
“We’re not staffing our police and firefighters and paramedics accordingly,” Hill says. “Where’s all the money going? It’s largely going to downtown projects.”
Then there’s Black, who agrees, District A residents need property tax relief. She says she supports reworking the missing middle program to account for “neighborhood dynamics and affordability.”
Black notes that homelessness in Raleigh has risen by 200 percent, and proposes the city take advantage of public land and housing voucher programs to create more affordable housing for very low-income residents.
“Homelessness is a housing crisis,” Black says.
Besides housing and growth, all three candidates are concerned with how the city council functions day to day.
Several moments over the past five years have eroded public confidence in the council and hinted at discord among its members. Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin led an unexpected vote to disband CACs in 2020. In early 2024, council member Christina Jones called for their reinstatement in another surprise vote. There have been caustic exchanges and frequent disruptions during meetings.
Black says on the campaign trail, she’s heard residents call the council “dysfunctional.”
“The ‘dysfunction’ is coming from us uplifting citizen voices, slowing down rezoning processes, centering community voices and decisions,” Black says. “If you find that dysfunctional, we call that accountable. We call that transparency, what people have been asking of local elected officials for so long.”
Silver sees the situation differently.
“When I watch some of the exchanges at the council table, it’s disheartening,” he says. “I’m hoping I could bring that civility back. … Our youth are watching, and we need to lead by example. We can disagree, but we need to do that in a civil way.”
Hill thinks he’d bring maturity to the council table.
“We’ve got some young people in there that are inexperienced, and they’ve gone where the city management takes them,” Hill says.
Silver has endorsements from the Wake County Democratic Party, the Raleigh-Wake Home Builders’ Association, the Sierra Club, Equality NC, and the local police and firefighters’ unions. He’s also amassed $130,000 in campaign donations, far surpassing his two opponents, who have raised less than $10,000 each.
Silver’s top donors represent Raleigh’s business and development communities. They include Dan Lovenheim, who owns multiple bars in downtown Raleigh, Bonner Gaylord, the COO of Kane Realty, and Jim Goodmon, the CEO of WRAL’s parent organization, Capitol Broadcasting Company. Each gave the maximum allowable amount, $6,400, to Silver’s campaign.
The Wake County Republican Party and former Wake County sheriff Donnie Harrison have endorsed Hill.
Black has endorsements from the Raleigh-Wake Citizens Association, an advocacy group for underserved communities and people of color; UE Local 150, the service workers union representing many city employees; and Solidarity with Humanity, a local pro-Palestinian PAC, which has supported Black in her persistence in trying to get the council to adopt a Gaza ceasefire resolution—something Black advocated for even though she says she knew it might cost her reelection.
Black called for a surprise ceasefire vote in March. She remembers discussing the proposal with fellow council member Christina Jones ahead of time.
“We both told each other that after this there would be no looking back, we stand with community on this and our political career could be over by the end of the year,” says Black. “We resolved that we were just fine with that decision.”
The vote came after both the Durham and Carrboro councils passed ceasefire resolutions. Hundreds of Raleighites had lobbied the council for months to do the same and disavow the ongoing violence in Gaza.
Raleigh’s council decided in February it would not vote on a ceasefire resolution because members couldn’t reach a consensus. But Black introduced the resolution anyway a month later and asked for a same-day vote, catching some colleagues off guard.
“We cannot ignore the people who have eagerly demanded us to do one thing,” she said during the session.
The vote failed 4-4, but Black continued to call for a ceasefire on social media and attend events alongside pro-Palestinian activists.
One of those activists was Rania Masri, who in November 2023 participated in a UNC panel where she called October 7, the day on which Hamas militants attacked Israeli civilians last year, “a beautiful day.” UNC leaders condemned the comments and the U.S. Department of Education opened an investigation into complaints of antisemitism at the event. (Masri was asked to comment for this story, but issued stipulations the INDY wasn’t willing to accept).
Some of Black’s constituents are outraged that Black would attend events and fundraise alongside Masri.
“Mary Black originally enjoyed a lot of really robust support from Raleigh’s Jewish community,” says Conner Taylor, the state Democratic Party Jewish Caucus’s second vice chair. “They voted for Mary Black, they knocked on doors, and she had a lot of support from our community in District A. … This very public, very close working relationship unfolds after those very public comments at UNC.”
Black, who first met Masri through the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, which Masri directs, distanced herself from Masri’s comments.
“I am not responsible for, nor do I endorse, the comments or actions of others,” Black wrote in a statement. “It’s absurd to be held accountable for words I neither said nor agree with, especially when my stance has always been clear: a commitment to peace and humanitarian action, as reflected in my statements, the ceasefire resolution, and my consistent social media posts on the war in Gaza.”
Black says a statement she made from the council table in November 2023, in which she condemned all forms of violence and hatred, fully represents her stance.
Jones, the District E councilmember, also has a relationship with Masri, appearing at events with her and hugging her at a January council meeting.
“I believe in showing empathy and respect to those in need, which is why I embraced those who welcomed it at council during such a difficult time,” Jones said in a statement. “It’s about human connection and understanding.”
Jones says the attention to her and Black’s activism is disproportionate, since council members Megan Patton and Jane Harrison also supported the ceasefire resolution but haven’t received the same level of scrutiny.
“If we’re going to have a meaningful conversation about principles and policies, it’s crucial that we apply the same standard to everyone involved,” Jones said in the statement. “The selective outrage raises serious questions about what’s really driving the criticism.”
But in parts of District A, it does appear to have damaged Black’s reelection bid. Some constituents say Black is too focused on Gaza and doesn’t seem interested in local governance. Several mention she isn’t as accessible as others on the council who host regular public meetings in their districts.
“’I’ve seen more regular meetings in other areas,” says Steve Brechbiel, a retiree who’s lived in the district since 1994. “Town hall type things, planned in advance, well-promoted. We just haven’t seen as much of that. Even during the pandemic, [Black’s] predecessor [former council member Patrick Buffkin] held quarterly Zoom meetings.”
“I would like to see Mary Black come out to more community events in District A,” agrees Shane Collins, who lives in Quail Hollow.
Will Yadusky, a married father of two who lives near Eastgate Park, says Black is overly focused on “international issues.” He doesn’t know who he’ll vote for in District A but says his main focus is on rising property taxes—his went up almost 30 percent over the last year, he says.
“It’s wasting energy that should be spent on our city, on gestures that have little or no effect on anyone’s lives,” Yadusky says. “A lot of people thought she was going to have an activist perspective towards local issues, but that’s not how it’s shaken out.”
Black denies this characterization.
“It’s a lie,” she says. “I’ve worked really hard for the people in District A [and] across the city who are marginalized, historically dispossessed, Black, brown, working-class people.”
The INDY spoke with several of Black’s supporters who agree with her assessment of her time in office. One, District A resident Angaza Samora Laughinghouse, a lawyer and an organizer with UE Local 150, is backing Black because she supports workers.
“[Black] is willing to take a public stand with us, support the workers’ Bill of Rights, vote against budgets that don’t reflect what the people need, and amplify the voices of the community,” Laughinghouse says.
Laughinghouse also appreciates Black’s willingness to have the conversation about a ceasefire resolution.
“Whenever somebody new comes in and tries to interrupt and change the status quo,” he says, “those who want to preserve it try their hardest to make them feel small and obsolete and crazy.”
Black says she is proud of her work reinstating CACs. She’s also called for the city to create an African American Affairs Board and an alternative response unit for mental health emergencies. Black voted against approving the city’s annual budget this year because it did not contain funding for the alternative response unit.
Still, Black says she feels conflicted about whether to continue in city politics after facing uphill battles and attacks on her character. She’s experienced racism and harassment. But, she says, she wants to be able to continue to use her voice and the political process to make a difference.
“I feel a duality of sometimes wanting to walk away from it all and be done with it,” she says, “and put my energy and my time into spaces that I know will affirm me in every way.”
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a corps member for Report for America. Reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].