Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin wins 2nd term, but with a very different City Council
Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin won a second term Tuesday, but she will lead a very different set of council members than during her first term.
The newly elected council is split on contentious issues like growth and how to involve the community in decision making.
The council was guaranteed to gain three new members, with several incumbents not seeking another term. It gained a fourth when another incumbent lost.
“We need to call on the community now to come together, work together,” Baldwin said standing in front of her supporters late Tuesday night. “I’m looking forward to getting together with new council members. We have to keep in mind that this isn’t about politics, and it’s not about campaigning. This is about government. And we all have to come together and govern on the issues that are important.”
Baldwin won with 47% of the vote. Challenger Terrance Ruth finished second with 41% of the vote, and DaQuanta Copeland third with 10%.
Baldwin has pushed to make it easier to build different types of homes throughout the city and successfully oversaw the passage of an affordable housing and a parks bonds.
But she’s been criticized for working for and taking contributions from developers. Her tenure as mayor has been marked by controversy, some self inflicted like the surprise disbanding of citizen advisory councils and the postponing of the city’s elections that extended the current council members’ terms. She also has been criticized by some for the local response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the protests after the murder of George Floyd.
“The fact of the matter is, we have our work cut out for us,” Baldwin said in her speech to supporters. “We have important work to do, and it starts tomorrow. Housing affordability and choice, we have to keep on. it.
“We have the third-fastest growing city in the country,” she continued. “We cannot stop growth. We’ve got to look at how we manage it but do it and be inclusive so everybody feels welcome.
“Second thing: commuter rail. We need to continue to expand our transit system and we need regional rail. That is so important to the future. Ten years from now, if we don’t have it, we’re going to be a very congested, undesirable place to live, so we need to focus on that.
Baldwin, 66, is vice president of advancement at First Tee of the Triangle. She was elected to her first term as mayor in 2019 and served on the Raleigh City Council from 2007 to 2017.
The differences between Ruth, an assistant professor in the N.C. State University School of Social Work, and Baldwin were stark.
He wanted to reinstate the citizen advisory councils. He opposed the city’s $275 million parks bond and the new “missing middle” zoning changes.
In a statement Wednesday afternoon, Ruth congratulated Baldwin for her campaign.
“The promise I made when I started this campaign hasn’t changed,” he said. “As a candidate, mayor or resident, it stays the same. I will always listen to every voice, work to protect every person and engage in every conversation about what is best for our great city. Every community member deserves to be met where they are, to be listened to, heard and respected every day, regardless of race, class or neighborhood.”
On Election night, supporters started trickling in to Ruth’s campaign returns party at Vidrio Raleigh on Glenwood Avenue. The Marcel Anderson Band, a six-piece jazz band, played a Marvin Gaye tune.
Ruth mingled with his supporters, saying shortly before 9 p.m. he felt “amazing.” But the party ended shortly after 10 p.m. with Ruth making his only speech of the night.
“It’s hard to tell where things stand right now,” told his supporters. “But it’s important to remember we’ve done something that almost no one thought was possible when we started. We created a grassroots movement, bringing residents from all parts of Raleigh together under one common call. That call was in restoring faith and trust in our city government, and now we’re here. We’ve almost made it to the finish line.”
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 7:54 PM.
