CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Election day is less than a week away, and Chapel Hill and Carrboro will both have new mayors by this time next week. Carolina Week reporter Walter Reinke is in studio to talk about the Chapel Hill Mayor’s race and what else you can expect to see on your ballot.
You’ve likely seen a campaign signs in the past few months. They’re everywhere, from Franklin Street, to Carrboro, even down MLK. But there’s a good reason for all these signs around Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
Chapel Hill’s mayor’s race set a fundraising record this year, yet 40 percent of voters are still undecided, according to a poll from earlier this month.
So the candidates are still putting up campaign signs, and still visiting polling sites as early voting enters its last days. Adam Searing, one of the candidates, was out talking to voters at a polling site on Tuesday. He says he’s running because he wants to bring change to Chapel Hill.
“People should be held accountable for their records for the last eight years,” Searing says. “And if you look around and you see that you’re not happy with what building is going on and the lack of investment in our parks and you want to change that, you should vote for me.”
Searing has served on the Chapel Hill town council since 2021, and before that worked as a lobbyist for healthcare reforms in North Carolina. The record he’s referring to is that of his opponent, Jess Anderson.
Jess Anderson has served on the Chapel Hill Town Council for eight years, and has also served as Mayor Pro Tem. She was also out hitting the polling sites on Tuesday. By phone, she told me her record is one of her strengths.
“I have a really long history of getting things done and doing good work and working with integrity and making sure that the public can have faith in its government and have a functional government,” Anderson says.
Anderson and Searing have different visions for the town when it comes to things like affordable housing, parks, and development.
Anderson says that affordable housing is a key component of addressing the housing crisis and making Chapel Hill an inclusive community. Earlier this year, she voted in favor of a change that would allow duplexes to be built in areas that were previously only single family homes.
“I think there are a lot of people in town who could really benefit from this,” Anderson says. “And it would also mean that, you know, we have slightly more diversity and people who may not be able to afford a single family home but could afford half of one.”
Searing voted against the change, and has said that he will work to overturn it as mayor.
“And the facts are that these changes, rezoning neighborhoods and then having market rate developers come in and build something else in these neighborhoods is not going to make homes more affordable,” Searing says.
He wants to bring more affordable housing to Chapel Hill by funding groups like Habitat for Humanity and building university-subsidized housing on open land like the Horace Williams Airport.
Parks are another important issue in the contest. Anderson says creating more parks and green spaces is part of her plan to create a denser and more affordable community.
“It’s about kind of democratizing and opening up green spaces and other things so that we can all have access to them and so that they’re not something that each individual has to provide on their own,” Anderson says.
Searing has also made parks a large part of his campaign. He says that although the town has had a parks plan since 2013, and invested more funds into parks this year, it’s not enough.
“We talked about lots and lots of things, we’ve never done one of those things,” Searing says. “That I mean, that is absolutely ridiculous to me. We haven’t made a new park in 15 years in Chapel Hill, and we’ve grown like crazy in that in the last 15 years. So we are falling down on our parks investment in this community.”
Incumbent Chapel Hill Mayor Pam Hemminger said earlier this year that she would not seek another term, and threw her support behind Anderson.
But the Chapel Hill Mayor’s race is not the only thing voters will see on their ballot. There is a crowded field for four open seats on the Chapel Hill Town Council.
Carrboro will also elect a new mayor, with incumbent Mayor Damon Seils also announcing earlier this year that he would not seek another term. There is only one candidate in the race, Barbara Foushee, who has served on the town council since 2017.
There are also open seats on the Carrboro Town Council and the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education.
For more information on where to vote and to view sample ballots for this year’s election, visit this link.