News & Observer endorsements: Our choices for the Raleigh City Council

This will be the first time in at least a century that Raleigh voters will elect their mayor and City Council members in a presidential election year.

That will mean a massive increase in turnout for a municipal election, which was held in odd-numbered years until 2022. It also means city candidates have struggled to gain voters’ attention amid the clamor of the presidential race in the battleground state of North Carolina. But beneath the presidential noise, more than 20 candidates are seeking seats on the eight-member council, which consists of the mayor, two members elected at large and five elected by districts.

The News & Observer’s Editorial Board has endorsed Janet Cowell in the five-way race for mayor. We also support the reelection of council member Jane Harrison, who faces no opposition in District D, which covers much of west Raleigh. Here are our picks in the other races:

At Large

In the race for the two at-large seats, the incumbents are Jonathan Melton and Stormie Forte. Also running are James Bledsoe, Joshua Bradley, Reeves Peeler and Robert Steele Jr. (Candidate Katie Pate, who is on the ballot, withdrew from the race in August because of family medical reasons.)

Bledsoe, 38, is a state employee and an U.S. Army veteran who served in Afghanistan. He wants to raise police pay but limit city spending in other areas. He would streamline the city’s building permitting requirements to make it easier to build affordable housing.

Bradley, 50, is a hotel accountant and a former Occupy Raleigh activist. He is critical of police shootings and supportive of non-police responses to people experiencing a mental health crisis.

Peeler, 38, a former community organizer who now works in banking, is a member of the Raleigh Planning Commission. He says the city should encourage affordable housing. He said he will “work hard to hold big corporate real estate developers accountable to pay their fair share to take the strain off property taxes.”

Steele, 40, a property manager, committed himself to making changes in Raleigh after his fiancee was killed in a mass shooting in Raleigh’s Hedingham neighborhood in 2022. He wants a citywide emergency alert system for violent crimes. He also wants to increase affordable housing units and improve the responsiveness of city leaders to the public.

Melton, 38, of Southeast Raleigh, is a family law lawyer. When he was first elected at-large in 2019, he became the first openly LGBTQ person to win citywide in Raleigh. He is an effective and energetic council member who emphasizes communicating with residents. He has supported pay raises for public safety workers, revising zoning laws to allow a wider variety of housing and expanding Raleigh’s transit options. We recommend Jonathan Melton.

Forte, 53, a Raleigh native and an attorney, was appointed to a district seat in 2020 and then won her at-large seat in 2022. She supports the city making a greater effort to help the homeless and to expand bus services to attract more riders. She has been a collegial member of the council focused more on results than disputes. We recommend the reelection of Stormie Forte.

District A (North Raleigh)

Mary Black, 29, brought a younger perspective and a concern for the environment to the City Council when elected in 2022. She advocated for the restoration of Citizen Advisory Councils, more help for the homeless and setting up the city’s African American Affairs Board.

Black is being challenged by Whitney Hill, a web marketer who declined to give his age, and Mitchell Silver, 64, Raleigh’s former planning director. While Black has made contributions on the council, Silver offers deep experience that would benefit the council as it guides the city’s growth.

Silver, who served as New York City parks commissioner after leaving Raleigh in 2014, is now a planning consultant in Raleigh. He would give the council valuable expertise, particularly as the city prepares to draw a new comprehensive plan that will direct growth for decades. We recommend Mitchell Silver.

District B (Northeast Raleigh)

Incumbent Megan Patton, 36, a former elementary school teacher, was among four freshman councilors elected in 2022. She says the work is more demanding than she expected and results are harder to achieve.

Still, Patton has listened, learned and made progress. She works closely with district residents and secured funding for Forestville Road Park.

Patton is being challenged by Jennifer McCollum, 51, a corporate accounts manager. She wants to increase the city’s public safety resources but also wants to reduce taxes “to get money back in citizens’ pockets.”

McCollum, making her first run for office, said she wants the council to be more transparent and more responsive to the public. “You can go and talk and it doesn’t seem like they really care,” she said.

The incumbent in this district, however, does listen and care. We recommend Megan Patton.

District C (Southeast Raleigh)

Corey Branch, a four-term incumbent in District C, earlier announced his candidacy for mayor, prompting a rush of candidates for what appeared to be an open seat. But Branch, 46, reversed course and is now seeking another term representing this Southeast Raleigh district.

There are now seven candidates on the ballot in District C. The others are DeQuanta Copeland, 44, a community engagement coordinator for Wake County who ran for mayor in 2022; Tomara DeCosta, 46, a manager for a clinical trials organization, who opposes Bus Rapid Transit projects and wants to cut what she considers the city’s wasteful spending; Air Force veteran Jared Ollison, 49, is a former director of Detention Services for the Wake County Sheriff’s Office and now a State Capitol Police officer; Tolulope O. Omokaiye, 42, leader of a nonprofit youth education program; Portia W. Rochelle, 72, a minister and retired state employee, and Daniel Grant-King, 25, a special education teacher.

Starting in 2026, a primary will narrow the choices to two. But the number of candidates this year speaks to more than a gap in the process or Branch’s initial move to run for mayor. It speaks to a sense in the district that residents are not being heard.

Branch has been a competent council member and his knowledge of city government is valuable, but his many challengers signal it’s time for new leadership for Southeast Raleigh.

The most compelling candidate in this group is Ollison. He supports youth programs and proposes a more practical approach to serving the district than some of the more activist candidates.

Asked what he’s hearing from district residents, Ollison said, “They tell me they are tired of the blight, the failure of the city to address broken sidewalks. They’re concerned with the cost of housing and gentrification.”

Ollison, who has a master’s degree in public policy and public administration, said, “There are a lot of things that are just ignored. If you’re on the City Council, you have an obligation to get out and engage and understand what the needs are.”

That’s straightforward talk about the district that’s too often overlooked. We recommend Jared Ollison.

District E (Central and Northwest Raleigh)

First-term incumbent Christina Jones has made a strong effort to reach out to her constituents. She’s held 23 community meetings in two years. She’s also attentive to the needs of city workers and has sought to pay them more.

But Jones’ outreach to her council colleagues has not been as effective. She brings an activist’s approach to a job that should be mostly about cooperation and compromise.

Jones’ opponent would bring a much different style to the job. John Cerqueira, 45, has an MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and counsels organizations on how to cope with change, a professional skill that would be useful to a council leading a growing city.

We recommend John Cerqueira.