Can Durham’s next city council find consensus on affordability and progress?
As Durham heads to the polls for Tuesday’s general election, candidates for the City Council’s three ward seats are making their final cases to win voters’ trust.
In races defined by the contentious issues of growth, affordability, and the leadership of a sometimes divided council on matters of development, the six candidates — three incumbents and three challengers — are fighting over the future direction of the city. In the primary election, two challengers lead the races for Ward 1 and 2.
Durham also is electing a mayor, choosing between incumbent Mayor Leonardo Williams and Anjanée Bell.
Challengers Matt Kopac (Ward 1) and Diana Medoff (Ward 3) are campaigning on a platform of efficiency and increased housing production, arguing that the current council’s hesitancy is making the city’s affordability crisis worse. They face incumbents DeDreana Freeman and Chelsea Cook, respectively, who are determined to protect Durham’s vulnerable communities by balancing the push for housing density with legal protections for longtime residents.
In Ward 2, incumbent Mark-Anthony Middleton is running on his record on major initiatives, including support for the city’s guaranteed income pilot program and the redevelopment plan for the Hayti corridor, inspired by the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II. Challenger Shanetta Burris is demanding a new approach, building relationships to ensure delayed projects and resources are delivered efficiently.
The News & Observer sat down with five of the six ward candidates who agreed to discuss their plans if elected, the issues they believe are most pressing in Durham, and how they plan to bridge the gaps on the City Council.
Ward 1: DeDreana Freeman vs. Matt Kopac
Freeman was elected to the City Council in 2017, bringing experience in local nonprofits for children and equitable economic policies. During her eight years on the council, she has been an advocate for tenant rights, environmental protection, and centering marginalized communities in council decisions.
Freeman has had challenges, including tension with some fellow council members and other elected officials. However, support for her re-election remains strong. One of the city’s largest PACs, the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People PAC, has endorsed her, and she has received praise from grassroots organizers and residents.
Freeman decided to run this year to “continue working with our communities to sustain what makes Durham home — our people, our neighborhoods, our small businesses, and the land we all share, so no one has to live in fear of being pushed out or left behind,” according to her website.
Freeman was unavailable for an interview with The N&O. She finished the primary election with 9,622 votes, or 39%, compared to Kopac, who recieved 41%, or 10,074 votes.
Kopac said he is running because he “loves the city” and views this moment as a “really critical moment nationally and locally.”
“I think local politics and local government are critically important to helping take care of each other,” he said. “I believe that the experience I have can be really useful.”
Kopac, a Milwaukee native, is currently a member of the city’s Planning Commission and the former chair of the Environmental Affairs Board, having helped develop the city’s Carbon Neutrality and Renewable Energy Plan. His approach relies on building coalitions, listening deeply, and assuming everyone on the City Council has a “heart in the right place,” he said.
Kopac, who once worked on the city’s Living Wage Project, says he will champion eviction-diversion programs, more diverse housing options, climate resilience, and public transit.
“A priority for me is building more long-term affordable housing using public land and public-private partnerships, like getting the 505 West Chapel Hill Street project [the old police station] done, which has been languishing for seven years,” Kopac said.
Ward 2: Shanetta Burris vs. Mark-Anthony Middleton
Burris is centering her campaign on the need for effective affordable housing and homeless services, youth investment, and infrastructure. Looking at the division on the current council, she is demanding better transparency and “authentic relationships.”
“I can’t compel someone to be cool with me, but I would hope that I would have the opportunity to meet with each other and just build strong relationships so I can understand their lived experiences, their approach to addressing some of these issues,” she said. “Nothing’s going to get done in a silo. I think it really just starts off by humanizing your colleagues.”
Burris, a Gastonia native, argues that greater cohesion is necessary to effectively deliver services for the unhoused population and to expand youth programs. She wants to see a City Council that is focused on evaluating policies once implemented to ensure they deliver on their goals.
“You should be bold enough to say, ‘We want better, so we want to actually make sure this does what we say it’ll do,’” she said.
Burris finished the primary race with 49%, or 11,738 votes, compared to Middleton’s 40%, or 9,416 votes.
Middleton, elected to the City Council in 2017, almost did not run for another term but felt compelled to continue the work he started, including addressing the challenges of development and affordable housing through the rewrite of the Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), and combating the city’s gun violence.
“I want the UDO to be stringent in terms of design. I want to do as much as we can to listen,” he said. “I love Councilman Baker’s advocacy for things like parks and connectivity. So I want to do as much as we can to codify those things.”
Middleton, who some have criticized for his leadership style, views the narrative as political “framing” and says his deep policy expertise and institutional knowledge are vital for navigating restrictions placed on Durham by state law.
“I know debates can get sharp, and I get into the give-and-take, but I have never engaged in ad hominem attacks,” he said. “I will keep, always, at the beginning of every meeting, setting the tone by referring to my honorable colleagues. I will also never equate your disagreeing with me as a character flaw or as being ... ill and having ill intentions.”
Ward 3: Chelsea Cook vs. Diana Medoff
Medoff believes the city is fighting over developments “one at a time” and needs a “top level vision for Durham” centered on increasing housing supply. She said housing scarcity is a “policy choice” driven by unnecessary delays and wants a streamlined approach to building to overcome the city’s projected 32,000-home shortage by 2029.
“I think my opponent, as well as some of the other council members, are trying to make perfect the enemy of good,” she said. “We need more homes and I would definitely just love to be part of rewriting the [Unified Development Ordinance] so that it reflects some smart building regulations that will just make the process more efficient and more economical for everyone, realizing that we can’t be fighting over developments because there’s too much at stake.”
Medoff, a Maryland native, has been involved in local issues since moving to Durham 16 years ago, most recently teaching third grade at Duke School. She says her time as an educator made her sensitive to the city’s inequities.
“We have too many unhoused kids who don’t have programming that’s accessible or affordable,” she said. “There’s too many people with food insecurity, and especially now with Medicaid and the SNAP cuts. I was thinking that I just want to be more a part of the conversation.”
In the primary election, Cook finished ahead of Medoff with 14,712 votes, or 60%, while Medoff earned 6,238 votes, or 25%.
Cook, a Memphis native and eviction defense attorney, was appointed to the City Council last year. While she is willing to partner with developers, she warns against relying on them for the city’s growth.
“They are profit driven and that is what they are going to prioritize,” she said. “They are not going to prioritize a walking, affordable, environmentally sustainable Durham, which is what we need to see.”
Two weeks ago, Cook championed passage of a rewrite of the city’s housing code that gives tenants the power to fight evictions, calling it her proudest moment. She said she wants to continue building coalitions and respect between council members, even if it is not always “peaceful or agreeable.”
“What I continue to do is just to show up and be really informed and be ready and willing to have a conversation with folks,” she said. “I’m not willing to concede in order to get consensus on council if concessions mean that it doesn’t serve the city of Durham. My residents are my number one priority.”
Polls are open on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 4, from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
This story was originally published November 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM.