Why this Raleigh City Council member will not run for re-election
Raleigh City Council member Jonathan Lambert-Melton will not seek re-election, but will instead look to join the Wake County Board of Commissioners in 2026.
“Wake County is a great place to live and work, to raise a family and enjoy our wonderful parks and greenways,” Lambert-Melton said Monday. “I want to continue the hard work required to keep us moving in the right direction.
“We must continue to make headway to make housing more affordable, fund our public schools, protect our environment, and ensure that our people are safe from crime,” he said. “This is what is required to continue to recruit the kinds of good jobs that we need to move forward.”
Lambert-Melton, 39, was first elected to one of two at-large seats on the Raleigh City Council in 2019. He’s pushed the city to approve more housing by easing zoning restrictions, as well as to improve public safety and transit.
“I feel like I’ve done a lot on the city level to serve the community, and I have more to give,” Lambert-Melton said. “And the Wake County board could benefit from more local government experience.”
Lambert-Melton, a registered Democrat, is an family attorney at Gailor Hunt Davis Taylor & Gibbs. He chairs the council’s Economic Development and Innovation Committee and is vice chair of the council’s Transportation and Transit Committee.
2 new commissioner seats
Lambert-Melton is the second local government official to announce his candidacy. Morrisville Town Council member Steve Rao also plans to seek one of the county board’s two at-large seats.
“As a county commissioner, I will work to harness the energy of innovation and technology to improve the lives of Wake County residents,” Rao said in a news release. “We need forward-thinking leadership to ensure that as we grow, we do so in a way that benefits everyone.”
The seven members of the Board of Commissioners were all previously elected at-large, with candidates having to live in the district they represented. In 2023 State Rep. Erin Paré, the sole Republican in Wake County’s legislative delegation, submitted a bill to change that, so now the district commissioners will be elected by the voters within the district and two at-large seats have been added to the board, bringing the number of commissioners to nine.
Seats for Districts 1, 2, 3 and 7 are also up in 2026. The terms are for four years, except for the at-large winner who receives the second-most votes. The winner of that seat will serve for two years.
Filing runs from Dec. 1-19.
The primary is March 3, 2026, with the general election Nov. 3, 2026.
This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 10:03 AM.
