It was a good night for incumbents up and down the ballot in Wake County, where sitting county commissioners, school board members, and most of the city council won re-election by comfortable margins.
Notable exceptions include the Raleigh mayor’s race, where Janet Cowell won in a landslide to succeed two-term mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin, who did not seek re-election, and the city council District A race, where Mitchell Silver toppled incumbent council member Mary Black. Cowell and Silver’s success last night indicates that Raleigh voters are looking for stability and experience right now: both candidates campaigned on their long records of public service in Raleigh and beyond.
At the federal and state levels, Wake residents overwhelmingly supported Kamala Harris (62 percent), Josh Stein (70 percent), and Democratic candidates for the Council of State.
Keep reading for a breakdown of last night’s Wake County election results.
Raleigh Mayor and City Council
Janet Cowell received 59.8 percent of the vote in the five-way contest for Raleigh mayor. Her closest competitor, Paul Fitts, took home about 18 percent.
A former Raleigh city councilor, state senator, and state treasurer, Cowell most recently served as the president and CEO of the Dix Park Conservancy. Cowell led her opponents in fundraising throughout the race and had received endorsements from the Wake County Democratic Party and popular former mayors Charles Meeker and Nancy McFarlane.
Along with a new mayor, Raleigh’s city council will see a new leader in one of its district seats, while six incumbents will remain on the council.
In District A, Mitchell Silver, Raleigh’s former planning director, ousted one-term incumbent Mary Black and defeated another challenger, Whitney Hill. Silver captured about 40 percent of the vote.
Black, 30, an environmental justice advocate with a background in social media strategy, was elected in 2022 as part of a cohort of four newcomers, all progressive millennial women. Black had broad appeal with young renters and working-class voters, but she came up short against Silver’s well-financed campaign.
Silver, 64, New York City’s former parks commissioner for seven years, helped develop Raleigh’s 2030 comprehensive plan and unified development ordinance (UDO) during the decade he spent as Raleigh’s top planner.
In District B, Megan Patton, 34, a former teacher and first-term incumbent, held onto her seat against challenger Jennifer McCollum, earning about 55 percent of the vote.
In District C, the city council’s most crowded race, incumbent Corey Branch fended off six challengers, holding on to his seat with about 40 percent of the vote—twice as much as the next highest vote-getter, Tolulope Omokaiye.
In District D, Jane Harrison, 39, a coastal economics specialist who works for North Carolina Sea Grant at NC State University, ran unopposed for reelection. She won more than 29,000 votes.
And in District E, first-term incumbent council member Christina Jones, 39, looks to have narrowly defeated challenger John Cerqueira, 45, a change management consultant who ran a campaign prioritizing smart growth and sustainable development. Jones won by about three points.
In the Raleigh City Council at-large race, incumbents Stormie Forte and Jonathan Lambert-Melton came in first and second place respectively in a field of six. Forte, the top vote-getter in the at-large race for the second cycle in a row, won more than 98,000 votes citywide, while Melton won more than 83,000 votes. The third-highest vote-getter was James Bledsoe. Reeves Peeler, a Raleigh planning commissioner who ran a grassroots campaign, placed fourth, winning about 10 percent of the vote.
Wake School Board
All five incumbents on the Wake County Board of Education will hold onto their seats, and the school board will retain its 7-2 Democratic majority.
In District 3, one-term incumbent Wing Ng squeaked to victory against his opponent Jordyne Blaise with 50.3 percent of the vote. Ng is a 56-year-old physician and registered Republican—one of two on the majority-Democratic school board.
In District 4, Toshiba Rice won her first school board election after being appointed in February to replace Tara Waters, who left to join the county board of commissioners. Rice beat out her challengers, Michael T. Williams and Sean Callan, with a comfortable 65 percent of the vote.
Lynn Edmonds will serve a second term representing District 5, where she took home 68 percent of the vote compared to her opponent Ted Hills’ 31 percent. Edmonds is a Wake County Public Schools parent and former PTA president who serves as outreach director for Public Schools First NC, a statewide nonprofit dedicated to public education advocacy.
Sam Hershey was re-elected to the District 6 seat by a wide margin, earning 70 percent of the vote. His opponent, Josh Points, took home the other 30 percent. Hershey, a WCPSS parent and former volunteer, was first elected in 2022 and spent his first term on the school board voicing strong opposition to proposed book bans and school voucher programs that would divert public funds away from public schools to private schools.
Four-term incumbent Lindsay Mahaffey defeated her challenger, Elizabeth McDuffie, in District 8. Mahaffey, a former teacher and WCPSS parent who’s held this seat since 2016, got about 59 percent of the vote.
Wake Board of Commissioners
Democrat Shincia Thomas, current chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners and District 6 representative, was re-elected to serve a second four-year term. Thomas defeated Republican Jacob Arthur by a seven-point margin.
Incumbents Susan Evans and Tara Waters ran unopposed in Districts 4 and 5, respectively.
Wake and Cary Bond Referenda
Wake County voters approved a $142 million public libraries bond that will fund the construction of new libraries, renovations of others, and the expansion of the Fuquay-Varina Community Library to a new regional library. The measure passed with about 56 percent of the vote.
The bond will come at a minimal cost to taxpayers—just an additional $2.50 per $100,000 of assessed property value per year.
In Cary, voters rejected two municipal bond referenda: a $30 million affordable housing bond, which failed by a three-point margin, and a $590 million parks and recreation bond, which failed by a wider margin of about 10 points. Since the measures failed, the planned parks and housing initiatives will not move forward.
Wake County Judicial Races
Democrats flipped two NC Superior Court seats in Wake County.
Sean Cole defeated incumbent Becky Holt in the race for Superior Court District 10C Seat 01, earning about 48 percent of the vote to Holt’s 44 percent. The remaining votes went to unaffiliated candidate Stephanie Davis.
In the race for Superior Court District 10F Seat 01, Jennifer Bedford won against incumbent Graham Shirley by a six-point margin.
Most of the 13 NC District Court elections this year were non-competitive. The only contested race, for District 10D Seat 03, saw incumbent Democrat Kevin Boxberger win by a comfortable 20-point margin against Republican Karl Roth.
Other Wake County Races
Democrat Tammy Brunner ran unopposed for a second term as Wake County Register of Deeds.
Reese Wamsley won the three-way race for Wake County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor, beating out Mark Boone and Brian K. Lewis. Wamsley is a former construction project manager with a degree in architectural engineering. He earned about 41 percent of the vote, narrowly beating out Boone, who got almost 40 percent. Lewis received the remaining 19 percent.
Correction: We incorrectly reported that James Bledsoe is a registered Republican. Bledsoe is unaffiliated.
Chloe Courtney Bohl is a corps member for Report for America. Reach her at [email protected]. Comment on this story at [email protected].