West Cary runoff election: Bansal in the lead for town council seat

Voters in the western part of Cary were faced with a runoff election this week.

Sarika Bansal and Rachel Jordan are vying for the District D Cary Town Council seat. District D covers all of Cary west of North Carolina Highway 55 and reaches into Chatham County. It's also next to the future Apple campus in RTP.

Election day was Tuesday. As of Wednesday morning, Bansal narrowly leads Rachel Jordan for the seat on council district D by 67 votes.

Jordan requested the runoff after Bansal didn’t get a majority of the vote during last month’s election.

During the Oct. 10 election, Bansal received 2,285 votes (48.89%), Jordan received 1,298 votes (27.77%) and Ryan Eades received 1,088 votes (23.28%). There were three write-in candidates (0.06%).

Bansal is a mother of a 15-year-old daughter and a businesswoman. She worked as a cyber security expert for years. If elected, Bansal would become the first Indian-American on the Cary Town Council.

Jordan moved to Cary seven years ago from Northern Virginia. She said her roots are in Raleigh, and she touts her experience volunteering for the Democratic Party.

Bansal and Jordan have witnessed Cary’s growth firsthand.

Cary’s population went from 135,234 people in April 2010 to 180,388 people as of July 1, 2022, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

WRAL News asked each candidate what they see as the biggest challenges created by that growth.

“We accommodate the future needs, but we also make sure that the existing neighborhoods and the people [who] live there, we maintain the harmony of their neighborhoods and their lives,” Bansal said.

Jordan said Cary leaders can’t stop the town’s growth.

“We have to make that growth livable for people in west Cary so that we can keep having a community here,” Jordan said.

Housing affordability is a top issue throughout the Triangle. Bansal and Jordan have different ideas to increase housing supply.

“Right now, we only even request 5% of affordable housing set aside in new development,” Jordan said. “I think we could substantially increase that.”

“I would be a big advocate to relax the requirements for accessory dwelling units,” Bansal said.

WRAL News also asked each candidate what three big issues they want to see addressed.

Bansal said balanced growth, infrastructure and supporting small businesses.

“We will be able to meet the financial needs of the town through small businesses rather than putting that burden on the taxpayers,” Bansal said.

Jordan said affordable housing, the environment and connecting communities through greenways, parks and town amenities.

“West Cary wants the same amenities that the rest of Cary has,” Jordan said. “When we think of those amenities, we need to make sure they’re serving everybody.”