Fair enough. I like my cynical pessimism tho. 
It’s quite common for people to run for state Senate or state House without any experience as an elected official at all. That doesn’t mean they don’t have any experience that would be very relevant for holding the office, but state legislature is often a place where people will try their hand at running for office for the first time. And while it can be a springboard to higher office, and I’m sure some people get into it hoping that will be, even for people who do get elected to the legislature, most of them don’t advance any higher than that.
Both of these things are partly a function of the fact that we have 170 state legislative seats that are all up for election every two years. That’s a lot of candidates to recruit, and not nearly enough higher offices to go around.
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New candidate for District D. Todd was one of 5 candidates they considered to replace Saige Martin and ultimately went with Stormie Forte.
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As soon as I hear environmental, I think… Not gonna like new buildings. I guess I could read the article first. 
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Not necessarily- I think most environmental conservationists would agree that density, and building “up not out” are the best ways for cities to develop, vs endless suburban sprawl which results in more and more tree cutting and water runoff management.
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Yep, I work in the environmental field and I am personally 100% of the mindset to densify the existing city rather than continuing the sprawl into virgin lands.
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Yeah, but you guys are smart and informed and reasonable…
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@annamjohnson keeping an updated list of City Council and Mayor candidates now that filing has opened:
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article263112508.html
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A fun read for people who may remember the Drunktown saga
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Has this been shared anywhere? Don’t think I’ve seen a comprehensive list of all the people running and some sort of writeup on them either.
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Didn’t realize Zainab Baloch filed for CC again. Third time’s the charm? Gunning to be Raleigh’s very own Ralph Nader?? lmao
Dropping into District B might be the right play…
She’s a super nice person, I just have never been sure that I could get behind her as a local political candidate- she talks up the need for more housing, affordable housing as a priority, but I’ve gotten the impression she is not as keen on density (she refers to developers like they’re the spawn of Satan himself, which leads me to question who she believes would be financing/building the affordable housing she knows we so desperately need?)
She also pushes a ton of identity politics, which might make sense for a politician running for a bigger office (State/Fed), but for City Countil/Mayor of a mid-size Southern city? Political suicide IMO.
I threw her a vote in 2017 when she went at-large but since then, I’m really looking for people to provide the “How” to what they are pitching.
We need more affordable housing? Great. How will you do that?
We need more transit improvements?
Police oversight
Community engagement
Parks
Lower taxes
Downtown fountains
I’m all in for these…
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What I meant to say was district B might be a good place to drop in since it’s been the seat of the ‘I have reservations, no answers but No’ councilor of late…
If you don’t present voters with a plan that includes some tangible, practical steps, then you’re just throwing around buzzwords.
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We have the list now. Any takes from anyone?
Doesn’t seem like a crowded list except for maybe At-Large. The real changeup for me may be that we now get to vote in even numbered years which should drastically increase the participation rate for local elections. 
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article263112508.html
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My vote is for Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin. I Love her Pro-Downtown Growth approach!
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Baldwin has been a mixed bag in my view, but I’m comfortable with her over either of her opponents.
I like Jonathan Melton, I can vote for him again. Stormie Forte says things that I support but I don’t think she has always acted in accordance with what she says. James Bledsoe hits most of the right notes, but raising pay for police without also increasing accountability (eg giving the police oversight board actual power) is a hard no for me. I’d support Josh Bradley if he didn’t think we need to prevent rezonings that don’t include affordable housing. What does that even mean? Rezonings don’t usually include a complete development plan, and denying all rezonings that don’t come with that will grind development to a halt or at any rate limit density and make the affordability crisis worse (a common problem with SPUSA folks is a lack of understanding that while it’s fine to argue that markets aren’t working, it’s not good to legislate as if they don’t exist). I’d prefer somebody younger than Anne Franklin but I think her policy chops are good. Agnostic on Portia Rochelle. Odom is a hard no. I’ll have to wait for more from Bledsoe, Bradley, Franklin, and Rochelle before I decide.
I live in District C. I have absolutly nothing against Corey Branch but he’s been on council for a long time; I don’t like people holding one office too long (which, to me, is 8-10 years). I’ll probably vote for him again, but if Wanda Hunter starts looking like a strong candidate I’d be happy to vote for her (her website isn’t great, but it’s still early).
Wish I could vote for Jenn Truman in D; she seems like she’d be the best addition to the city council in any district.
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