Meeker To Seek Fourth Term as Raleigh Mayor

RALEIGH, N.C. — Mayor Charles Meeker plans to run for re-election this fall to a fourth term.

Meeker told WRAL that he had been contemplating a run for U.S. Senate against Republican Elizabeth Dole in 2008. But he said that, over the holidays, he came to the conclusion that he could do more as mayor.

He was first elected mayor in 2001 and handily defeated opponents in 2003 and 2005 for his second and third terms.

No other candidates have declared an intention to run for mayor.

Meeker said the city has plenty of issues that remain unfinished, such as protecting the Falls Lake watershed, handling traffic congestion and road expansion and developing the Dorothea Dix property.

The state is considering selling the 300-acre Dix site south of downtown to the city after the mental hospital there closes in the next year.