For the first time since 2019, Raleigh will have a new mayor, after Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin surprised many by not running for re-election.
Why it matters: The nonpartisan mayoral race gives North Carolina’s capital and second-most populous city a chance to pick a new symbolic leader and re-evaluate the policy choices that have been made since the pandemic.
- Raleigh’s next mayor — a voting member of city council — will need to lead the city across several important issues — most notably managing the city’s growth and the affordability of housing.
State of play: Five candidates are vying to become mayor — but so far two candidates are considered frontrunners.
Janet Cowell, 56, has raised the most money in the race by a wide margin, received endorsements from three previous mayors and comes with an extensive resume. Her campaign is built on the idea that her experience will navigate the complexities of leading a city of nearly half a million people.
- The Boylan Heights resident is a well-known figure in Raleigh politics. She previously sat on the city council from 2001 to 2004, represented Raleigh in the N.C. Senate from 2004 and 2008 and served two terms as State Treasurer until 2017. From 2021 to 2024, she was the CEO of the Dix Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that leads the urban park.
- “When you think about the position of mayor, you need somebody with a lot of connections, because this is a soft power position,” she told Axios, adding she is capable of bringing together different community coalitions, experts and data sources to make the best policy decision and build trust across neighborhoods.
Terrance “Truth” Ruth, 42, a professor at N.C. State’s School of Social Work, is the other leading candidate.
- He was a relatively unknown political player in 2022, when he came within six percentage points of Baldwin, calling for the return of Citizen Advisory Councils and criticizing the city’s lack of affordable housing progress.
- Ruth, who lives off Oberlin Road, has used the past two years to continue growing his name recognition around the city. “What the city is asking for is someone that can actually build a bridge between policy being created … and communicating what’s happening so that we don’t feel that we’re being blindsided,” he told Axios.
Others running include three-time candidate Paul Fitts, 55; small-business owner Eugene Myrick, 52; and James Shaughnessy IV, 25…