NC Sen. Mike Woodard is running for mayor of Durham
A North Carolina state senator is throwing his hat in the ring to be mayor of his home city.
Sen. Mike Woodard, a Durham Democrat, filed for office on Wednesday morning in Durham, his wife by his side.
“It’s not that I’m leaving the Senate,” he said outside the Board of Elections. “It’s that I’m coming to be mayor, finding a deeper way to serve the community I live in and love.”
Durham will elect a new mayor in November after the October primary whittles down the candidates to two. The current mayor, Elaine O’Neal, announced at the end of June that she will not seek reelection.
Woodard doesn’t need to resign his Senate seat to run. That term is up in 2024.
Woodard has served in the Senate since 2013. He previously served on the Durham City Council and had been mulling a run for state treasurer, The News & Observer previously reported. He told The N&O on Tuesday that he felt pulled back to serving in local government instead.
“I would love to do that job (state treasurer) but the pull of serving Durham in this way proved to be the thing I should do right now,” Woodard said. “Durham’s got a lot of great opportunities in next few years, and some challenges. I’ve always liked local government.”
Woodard served on the council from 2005 to 2012. He was known for attending more Durham events than any other council member — from judging Barktoberfest to marching in the Watts Hospital-Hillandale Fourth of July Parade — so much so that Durhamites expected him to run for mayor after longtime former Mayor Bill Bell retired.
But Bell didn’t retire until 2017, and by then Woodard had run for Senate instead, in 2012. He has served in the minority party for 11 years. Woodard is known for working across the aisle, including a friendship with the late Republican Sen. Jerry Tillman.
Durham mayoral race
The candidate filing period opened Friday. Two others have filed to run for mayor.
- Charlitta Burruss, a minister who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2021 and City Council in 2019.
- Sylvester Williams, a pastor and perennial candidate for local office.
Also weighing a run was Kenneth Spaulding, a former state legislator and longtime Durham attorney who ran against Roy Cooper in the 2016 Democratic primary for governor. Spaulding decided against it two days before the filing period opened.
The top two vote-getters in the Oct. 10 primary will face off in the Nov. 7 general election. Three City Council seats also are up for grabs.
Woodard’s time on council took place with Bell as mayor. Asked if he would lead the city like Bell, former Mayor Steve Schewel or O’Neal, Woodard said “I’m a Woodard.”
The council has grown sharply divided in the past year, with emotional arguments spilling into public view and one becoming physical. Woodard said he hopes to shepherd the city in a new direction.
“What I want to work on is communication between the members,” he said. “We’ll talk about the issues; we’ll spend social time together; just continue the dialogue all the time.”
Woodard said he’d go back to the city with the experience and knowledge of serving 11 years in the legislature.
“I think my legislative experience will make me a much better mayor,” he said.
He said he was approached by about 40 people in the community asking him to run, and he made a final decision over the weekend. His campaign is already accepting donations.
“I will continue my Senate job because there’s a lot more to be done,” Woodard said. He would probably file to run for reelection if he doesn’t win the mayoral race, he added.
“Just right now I’ll concentrate on becoming Durham’s 41st mayor,” he said.
If Woodard wins, he’d resign his Senate seat before being sworn in as mayor in early December.
This story was originally published July 11, 2023 at 5:11 PM.
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