• The Road to Victory in NC-04 Run Through Wake
  • Underused Spaces in Durham Neighborhoods Get Upgrades
  • ICYMI: Why Everyone Should Tour the South Wake Landfill
  • Remembering Folk Artist Clyde Jones
  • The Guy Who Drives the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is a Local
Credit: Illustration by Nicole Pajor Moore

Good morning, readers.

The Democratic congressional primary between a Durham candidate and an Orange candidate may ultimately come down to voters in … Western Wake County?

Yup. As we’ve previously reported, Congresswoman Valerie Foushee and challenger Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam have pretty high profiles in their political homes. But neither have been on a competitive ballot in Wake County—until now.

My colleague Chloe and I did some math: Thanks to an updated gerrymander, about 30 percent of the district’s voters now live in Western Wake (that includes a combined 136,000 Democratic and unaffiliated voters who can vote in Tuesday’s primary).

If (and that is a big if!) Durham and Orange voters behave as they did in the 2022 primary between Allam and Foushee, then the candidates would basically tie in that part of the district.

So in order to win the March 3 election—which will effectively decide November’s general election result in ultra-blue District 4—they’ll need to win over voters in the idyllic Wake suburbs of Apex, Cary, Morrisville, Holly Springs, and Fuquay-Varina. (We love our Chatham readers, but the Pittsboro-area corner of the district has few voters compared to the dense Wake portion.)

So how the hell do you introduce yourself to 136,000 voters who may have never heard your name? Read our story to find out.

And have a good Wednesday.

—Chase

Read the Full Story on INDYWeek.com

The latest from INDY, plus other stories around the state you’ll want to read. Handpicked every day by INDY Editor-in-Chief Sarah Willets.

Credit: Photo by Kennedy Thomason

Update in Progress

Underused sites in Walltown got a glow-up, thanks to Love Your Block. Now the program is continuing its second year in the Lakewood area, Kennedy Thomason reports.

Credit: Photo by Chloe Courtney Bohl

Talkin’ Trash

With Wake County’s growing population producing more than their share of garbage, its landfill is expected to be full by 2045. INDY’s Chloe Courtney Bohl took a tour, and you can, too.

Artist Clyde Jones in 2008, next to one of his creations. Photo by MJ Sharpe.

Critter Creator

On the cover of today’s print edition: Remembering folk artist Clyde Jones, who died in December and was known for his whimsical wooden creatures. Written by Andrea Richards.

LOCAL: A peer-led “recovery café” opened in Raleigh, offering a place for people with mental illness and substance-use disorders to drop in and get help without having to call 911 or visit an emergency room, NC Newsline reports.

LOCAL: The state recently canceled economic incentives for three companies in the Triangle that weren’t hitting hiring goals, WRAL reports.

STATE: North Carolina’s campaign finance reporting software is apparently so outdated that it’s expected to stop working within two years, WUNC reports.

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  • With the new Raleigh City Hall and other developments in the works, changes are coming to Nash Square. Learn more and help guide plans for “one of downtown Raleigh’s most iconic public spaces” at an open house with the city on Thursday.
  • The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile is in Wake County this week, and apparently the driver is from Cary (h/t Raleigh Magazine).
  • Fewer than 10,000 Durhamites have voted ahead of the March 3 primary (yikes!) Make a plan to head to the polls.
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