2025 Wake elections: A rough night for most incumbent mayors
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Incumbent mayors largely lost re-election across Wake County; few held seats.
- Voters replaced longtime leaders in Wake Forest, Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina.
- Council and commissioner races shifted control in Cary, Apex, Morrisville and Rolesville.
With all 111 precincts reporting late Tuesday night, Wake County’s municipal election results were clear.
Incumbent mayors had a rough night
Morrisville Mayor TJ Cawley was the only Wake County mayor on the ballot to retain his seat, according to unofficial final results. He had faced two challengers, including Satish Garimella, a current board member.
“I am very excited,” Cawley said. “It shows that positivity wins, and having a great positive campaign really resonates with our residents in Morrisville who care about families, managing our growth responsibly and making sure that we’re doing everything we can to make it an inclusive and welcoming community.”
Other mayors up for election this fall weren’t as successful.
Ben Clapsaddle unseated longtime Wake Forest Mayor Vivian Jones, who was first elected to the seat in 2001.
“I’m disappointed, but the people have spoken,” Jones said in a phone interview. “I have tried to do the best thing for Wake Forest for many years. I love this town, and I think we have a wonderful community, and I think I’ve had a big part in making it that way.”
A phone call to Clapsaddle was not returned late Tuesday night.
Zebulon Mayor Pro Tem Jessica Daniels Harrison defeated incumbent Glenn York, along with a former town manager, another current town commissioner and a former town commissioner. York received just 57 votes compared to Harrison’s 636.
In Holly Springs, challenger Mike Kondratic defeated Mayor Sean Mayefskie. And in Fuquay-Varina, longtime Commissioner Bill Harris unseated Mayor Blake Massengill.
All registered voters who live within city or town limits, except for Raleigh, had elections Tuesday to choose officials who, among other duties, set municipal tax rates and control local parks, police, fire, trash and planning for future growth.
Apex Election Results
Growth, utility bill troubles and a proposed data center near the Shearon Harris nuclear power plant were some of the top issues for the eight candidates for three open seats on the Apex Town Council.
Incumbent Ed Gray was running, along with Aditya Ahlawat, T.J. Evans, Mary Miskimon, Sue Mu, Kyrone Nebolisa, Andrew Powell and Shane Reese.
Mu, Reese and Gray were the top three vote getters, respectively, clearing 8,000 votes each with all precincts reporting shortly after 11 p.m.
Incumbents Brett Gantt and Audra Killingsworth were not seeking re-election.
Cary Election Results
While most local elections are nonpartisan, including in Cary, each of the three races in Cary featured a Democrat and a Republican.
Democrats swept all three races, including political newcomer Brittany Richards who defeated longtime Cary Town Council member Jennifer Robinson, a Republican, to win the District A seat. Richards had 59% of the vote .
Democratic Incumbent Carissa Johnson had 65% of the vote against Republican challenger Majorie K. Eastman, with 35% of the vote, for an at-large seat.
And long-time Cary Town Council member Jack Smith, who has represented District C since 1989, chose not to seek another term, setting up a contest between Democrat Bella Huang and Republican Renee Miller. Huang led Miller with 65% to 35% of the vote.
Fuquay-Varina Election Results
The southern Wake County town was one of several with a mayoral match-up between an incumbent and a challenger from town hall.
Two-term incumbent Massengill faced longtime Commissioner Harris. The pair last faced off in 2021.
With all 15 precincts reporting, Harris won with 57% of the vote.
There were four candidates for two seats on the Fuquay-Varina Board of Commissioners: incumbent Bryan Haynes and challengers Gage Cook, Nolan Ray Perry and Kristopher Vorren.
Haynes and Vorren placed first and second to win the two at-large seats.
Garner Election Results
Incumbents Kathy Behringer and Gra Singleton were looking to keep their two seats on the Garner Town Council against four challengers: Mike McIver, Kelvin Stallings, Patricia Uzzell and Rex Whaley.
With all 14 precincts reporting, Singleton took first place with 33% and Stallings took second with 32% to win the seats
Holly Springs Election Results
With all precincts reporting Kondratick had 56% of the vote to defeat incumbent Mayefskie for mayor.
There were six candidates for three seats on the Holly Springs Town Council. Incumbents Annie Drees and Tim Forrest faced challengers Joe Cuccurullo, Kara Foster, Sarah Larson and Josh Prizer.
Drees, Larson and Foster won.
Knightdale Election Results
All three incumbents were running to stay on the Knightdale Town Council.
Incumbents Steve Evans, Latatious Morris and Mark Swan hoped to keep challengers Grady Bussey and Shannon Russell Hardy at bay.
With all seven precincts reporting, Bussey, Morris and Evans won.
Morrisville Election Results
This western Wake County town had a three-way contest for mayor featuring incumbent Cawley, Council member Garimella and Robert Reinhart.
With all precincts in, Cawley won with 64% of the vote compared to Garimella’s 32% and Reinhart’s 5%.
Council member Steve Rao was not seeking re-election for his at-large seat, and instead will seek one of two new seats on the Wake County Board of Commissioners. There were four candidates, Liz Dann, Harrison Kesling, Subba Reddy Madireddy and Pete Martin looking to fill Rao’s seat on the Morrisville board.
Jhansi Abhirajan and Ashit Patel were seeking the District 2 seat and incumbent Vicki Scroggins-Johnson was looking to keep her District 4 seat against Patty Cheng.
With all seven precincts reporting, Kesling, Patel and Scroggins-Johnson won their respective races.
Rolesville Election Results
There were three candidates for three open seats on the Rolesville Board of Commissioners. Two write-in candidates also emerged to offer some competition, though historically it’s difficult for write-in candidates to win.
The three candidates on the ballot were incumbents Dan Tyrone Alston and April Sneed and Jennifer Bernat, owner of Local Charm Boutique.
Spenser Shumaker was running as a write-in candidate and campaigning with Bernat, while Michelle Young-Medley was running as a write-in candidate and campaigning with Sneed and Alston.
With all five precincts reporting, the three candidates on the ballot won. But write-in candidates had 697 votes or more than 22% of the total.
Wake Forest Election Results
Wake County’s northernmost municipality had another match-up between a long-time mayor and a challenger from the board.
With all 15 precincts reporting, Town Commissioner Clapsaddle defeated Jones, the incumbent, with 71% of the vote to her 23%.
There were six candidates for two seats open on the Wake Forest Board of Commissioners: incumbents R. Keith Shackleford and Nick Sliwinkski, and challengers Thomas Dement, Haseeb Fatmi, Pam James and Jasmine Zavala.
Fatmi and Shackleford won.
Wendell Election Results
There were eight candidates for three open seats open on the Wendell Board of Commissioners. Incumbents Jon Lutz and Jason Joyner chose not to seek re-election.
Incumbent Deans Eatman were running along with B.J. Barham, Kate Benson, Jorge Cordova, Christopher M. Critzer, Dustin Ingalls, Wes Jones and Philip Tarnaski.
With all five precincts reporting, Ingalls, Eatman and Benson won.
Zebulon Election Results
After a string of high-profile staff changes, a commissioner resignation and concerns among residents, five candidates emerged in the Zebulon mayoral race.
York, the incumbent, faced challenges from Commissioners Harrison and Shannon Baxter, former Commissioner Larry Loucks and former Town Manager Gilbert Todd Jr.
While Todd took the early-voting lead, Harrison won with 34% of the vote with both precincts reporting. Todd placed second with 32% of the vote.
There were six candidates for two open seats on the Zebulon Board of Commissioners: incumbent Quentin Miles and challengers Jesse Brown, Davarus Gardner, George Roa, Milton Robinson III and Trenton Schmit.
Miles and Roa finished in the top two positions with 29.12% and 22.03% of the vote respectively. But Gardner, who placed third with 21.27%, is within the margin to call for a recount. Recounts can be requested by Nov. 17.
This story was originally published November 4, 2025 at 9:33 PM.
