I think this is spot on. Cowell will have the most name recognition (if MAB doesn’t run), the most money, and the best endorsements. When a person has all those things, they usually win. But at least for me, nothing I’m reading on her website makes me excited about her candidacy, and some of it is outright concerning.
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Does Cowell actually have the highest name rec? I’ve lived here for 10 years and I’d never heard her name before she announced. A meaningful portion of the Raleigh electorate is too new to the city to recognize the names of anyone not currently on the council or in the news.
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It’s all relative. I assure you that the members of the city council also have extremely low name recognition citywide.
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Yeah I still don’t know who this person is, and I think I read about her on this forum in the last few weeks. I get the name recognition thing, but I wouldn’t vote for someone just because I’ve heard of them. I know of Oscar the Grouch, but I’m not electing him sanitation commissioner.
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FYI, in addition to being a former City Council member, she was also the Treasury Secretary of the State of NC.
case by case the most effective after all?
Terrance Ruth going for mayor again.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/wake-county/article286663175.html
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I’m not sure I saw it shared here but Jonathan Melton has announced his run for re-election at-large. I’m glad he’s holding off on running for Mayor, honestly, because especially with @dtraleigh’s post today, the race is going to look oversaturated (MAB, the former treasurer, Corey Branch, now Terrance Ruth again) - Melton can do just as much from the at-large seat as he could as mayor, so I’m glad to see he’s planning to stay there for now. The issue he’s facing, at least judging from the comments on his Instagram post announcing his re-election campaign, is the younger people giving him hell for voting not to adopt an Israel-Palestine ceasefire resolution… which is just about the dumbest thing I can imagine. Durham passed one. Took them an extra 3 hours after a city council meeting to agree to the terms of it. Performative “activists” cheered. Guess what it did in the grand scheme of this foreign war? N O T H I N G. It’s just virtue signaling, performative activism. Literally does nothing. Cities have zero influence over this, as states barely do. All 50 states’ governors could come together and DEMAND the federal gov’t to stop funding Israel and nothing would change. But a ceasefire resolution… coming from Raleigh, North Carolina… come on folks, please join us in reality.
Our CITY council members are there to work for THE CITY on CITY projects and issues. It’s ridiculous to think “I will vote for the city councilmember who is focused on signing useless but well-intentioned pieces of paper asking the federal gov’t to ask two foreign nations to please stop shooting one another, that is the most pressing issue our city faces.” Sorry for the rant, but this performative, virtue signaling faux-activism is pissing me off lately.
FOR THE RECORD I am obviously pro-ceasefire/anti-war/anti-genocide/etc, as I think any reasonable and good hearted person would be… but I also live in reality and am fully aware that it’s nowhere near the place of a midsized American city to even be a part of that discussion.
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I mentioned this at the meetup last night, but has anyone officially heard MAB is running for re-election? I don’t honestly know who I’d vote for if she isn’t. I guess Corey Branch?
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I’ve never been a big fan of Corey. Not a hater, mind you, but he’s just so very neutral on everything and seems to just vote with whatever the majority is at the time. I suppose I appreciate that he has the most recent and longstanding City Council experience, so he wouldn’t be a disaster. Terrance Ruth had zero experience last time he ran, I’d be curious to see if he’s become more active in city council meetings or volunteering or anything of the sort… and then the former treasurer lady I think would be the most obvious slam-dunk for name recognition and overall gov’t experience, but I’m torn on her policy positions - she seems to be trying to portray herself as BOTH pro-growth but ALSO pro-“neighborhood” if you catch my drift. Makes me weary of her true intentions.
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Yeah I feel about the same. My worry is that Corey voted pro-growth when that was the majority, and he’d vote anti-growth (?) if that’s the majority. I’d rather have someone be a leader for pro-growth policies and get others to come around or compromise. But he has experience and I’ve never had any issue with him. “TRuth” can go get some experience and a record to stand on before I’d give him another look, especially for mayor. And the treasurer person may have been fine in her past role and has government experience. So she could be ok, and if she was running for treasurer I’d probably vote for her. But I share your concern that she also may go the NIMBY route when it comes down to it.
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I’m with you that if MAB doesn’t run again, I’d probably have to vote Corey based on CC experience alone. TRuth is the biggest nothing-candidate on the ballot lol
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I sometimes wonder if he’s part Swiss. 
As for me, if MAB doesn’t run, I’ll still keep my mind open on Cowell. Even if she’s trying to sound middle-of-the-road at first to appeal to anti-growth voters (which I think is mostly a strategy) I cannot imagine she’d be getting Meeker & MacFarlane’s support if she was actually anti-growth. Just my initial feelings on it. We shall see.
I know I’ll get some heat for this but we truthfully need a leader or leaders who will prioritize:
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Hoboken-izing (Hoboken, NJ) downtown and midtown streets or high density areas over suburban resurfacing projects;
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Building out the planned transit, bike/ped (trails, etc.) infrastructure;
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Support high density mixed-use and entertainment style development around Dix Park, The Village, and the Warehouse district.
Prioritizing these things would help all citizens of Raleigh and beyond by making the city a little safer for vulnerable road users (wheelchair users, mobility scooters, bikers, parents, etc.). To add, doing this would allow more housing to be built in the popular areas of downtown.
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I read the article on Mr. Ruth and it did say that MAB will make her decision this Spring as to whether or not she will run again. Filing for office begins in July so I guess she has plenty of time to give us a decision.
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I know this comment is going to be unpopular but I’m also so tired of seeing this shit repeated uncritically.
Do you really believe that the people who pushed for a ceasefire resolution are deluded enough to think that a vote in Raleigh is going to directly end a genocide? Or that none of them ever took high school civics? Come on.
The anti-apartheid movement in the 80s saw waves of cities pass resolutions against apartheid in South Africa and push for divestment. In 2003, several cities passed resolutions condemning the invasion of Iraq. Last year, cities passed resolutions expressing support for Ukraine (and in NC, there was a state-wide resolution). There’s tons of precedent for cities/states weighing in on issues that fall outside their jurisdiction, sometimes in attempts to pressure the government, but more often as a symbolic gesture to reassure citizens that their leaders share their values, and to take a public stance on pressing issues.
To me, a local resolution was a low priority, but it would have been a meaningful one. There are people in my community who have lost dozens of family members in several months’ time. These same people are protesting in the “right” ways too – at rallies in Washington, writing their representatives, and organizing community fundraisers. And they were doing the same in 2008 during Operation Cast Lead, again in the 2014 assault on Gaza, yet here we are again and the political establishment has not budged. Pushing for a resolution is not performative activism, nor is it virtue signaling. It is genuine, community-driven outpouring of grief, rage, and organizing in an attempt to push the needle of public discourse within an environment where millions feel completely and utterly powerless to effect actual change within a broken political system.
Around 100 cities have passed ceasefire resolutions, including some giants like Chicago and San Francisco. And yes, you’re completely right that it is unlikely to do anything. But what if that number were 1,000? 10,000? What if it were the first of other more concrete legislation like Durham’s 2018 resolution banning police exchanges with Israel, or the campus movements for divestment? What kind of signal would that send to the Democratic party about the increasing rift in progressive enclaves on this issue, and the risk of losing votes? I see this as part of a broader, generational movement to build momentum for justice in Palestine beyond current events.
As for Melton, I was deeply disappointed in his vote, and even more incensed by his reasoning that “our city is very divided right now and I do not want to deepen that divide.” Does he decline to vote on rezoning issues when the meeting is full of “divided” citizens? Grow a spine. Take a moral stance. It’s literally the bare minimum he should be doing during a genocide funded by our tax dollars.
I do not think he should lose his seat for the vote, but I absolutely support every bit of criticism he gets for it. More broadly, it is unfortunate that the half of council that has regressive views on housing/urbanism stood on the right side of history here. People who are not engaged with local issues are going to see this and put their support behind people who don’t deserve it.
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I’ll just say I supported Melton’s vote, and this could get very angrily political and off-topic very quickly.
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I don’t know, I would argue that symbolic gestures to “reassure” citizens (aka make em feel better without actually accomplishing anything) is quite literally performative virtue signaling. However, I’m not going to say I’d be upset if Raleigh signed their own symbolic gesture. My frustration, I want to emphasize, is mostly on the young people commenting on his post that they will not vote for him because of his vote against signing a symbolic gesture. In other words, they are single-issue voters in the city council race… and their single issue is a symbolic gesture.
I would also argue that, because of the REALITY we live in (aka America) that, no, even if 1,000-10,000 cities signed their own symbolic gestures, the Feds would still continue business as usual. Again, I’m not even saying I agree with it. Just that it’s the reality we live in. Historically, the US has been allied with Israel and has always funded them. It’s just not something I would even consider among the issues most pressing to the CITY when voting for city council.
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I 100% expect this thread to get flagged or slowed, but the original comment was already inappropriate for this forum in my view. I said my piece and I’ll bow out.
I will not be flagging your comment, nor do I think my comment was “inappropriate” - this is the thread for discussing Raleigh Elections and Council Overall, and this was a highly divisive topic that directly effects both of those things. I actually appreciate your comment and opposing viewpoint. I like discussion and debate, so thank you for offering your thoughts.
Also want to clarify that I wouldn’t have been upset had Melton voted YES, nor am I upset he voted NO. It’s so far down the list of issues that actually effect the city and its citizens, that it just isn’t on my radar when considering who to vote for. Housing, infrastructure funding and implementation, etc etc etc. The list goes on. All this to say; had we signed our own city ceasefire resolution, I’d say “very nice, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy” and continue on with my day. The fact that we haven’t done so doesn’t change the fact that Melton is still the most effective and progressive minded leader on the council, while also being the most realistic and focused on what the city actually has the power to do.
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