Raleigh voters OK affordable housing bonds; incumbents dominate Wake commissioner, school board races

With almost all precincts reporting, voters were in favor of the bond 72-28 percent, according to unofficial results.

The housing bond will be funded through property tax increases of about $25 to $30 annually.

Raleigh hasn’t put a housing bond before voters in almost a decade, but city leaders have become increasingly concerned by the lack of available low-cost housing in recent years. When Durham voters overwhelmingly approved a $95 million bond a year ago, Raleigh officials sought their guidance and then moved forward with putting the issue on the ballot this year, despite the economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

North Carolina Election Results

"We pulled together a committee that looked at the needs. We settled on $80 million. The needs are great. They're going to be even greater with COVID and evictions and people losing jobs," Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said.

The bond will go to help people who can't afford to rent, buy or stay in their homes. The city estimates that the money would be spent in five buckets:

"This gives us an opportunity to partner with nonprofits to house our most vulnerable citizens. It gives us the opportunity to provide gap financing for workforce and low-income housing. It's very much needed. It was needed before. Now, it's crucial," Baldwin said.​

Incumbent Wake County commissioners, who have had to deal with both pandemic response and the push for racial justice this year, retained their seats Tuesday night.

All seven seats on the board were up for election, but incumbent Democrats Matt Calabria, Susan Evans and James West ran unopposed in Districts 2, 4 and 5, respectively.

With all precincts reporting, Democrat Sig Hutchinson defeated Republican candidate Greg Jones 62 to 38 percent of the vote in District 1 in eastern Wake County.

In District 3, which includes southwestern Wake County, including Cary and Apex, Democrat Maria Cervania defeated Republican Steve Hale to fill the seat currently held by Jessica Holmes, who was running for state labor commissioner. Cervania won with 61 percent of the vote.

In District 6 in northern part of Wake County, including Wake Forest, Democrat Shinica Thomas defeated Republican Karen Weathers for current Chair Greg Ford’s seat. Ford withdrew from the race in July, citing his family’s plans to move to California in support of his husband’s work. Thomas won with 60 percent of the vote.

Representing the western part of Wake County, incumbent Democrat Vickie Adamson defeated Republican Faruk Okcetin in the race for the District 7 seat. Adamson had 62 percent of the vote.

All but one incumbent Wake County school board members also retained their seats in Tuesday's election.

All nine board members were up for re-election this year in the nonpartisan races. Wake County is the state's largest school district, with more than 161,000 students, and the board has been focused on the pandemic, teaching and feeding students remotely for months before returning some elementary students to school last week.

School board Chairman Keith Sutton, board Vice Chairwoman Roxie Cash and board member Christine Kushner​ ran unopposed. Board member Jim Martin did not have an opponent listed on the ballot, but he was challenged by write-in candidate Mary Beth Moore and won with 90 percent of the vote.

Heather Scott retained her seat in District 1 against challenger and previous board member Deborah Prickett, getting 56 percent of the vote.

In District 2, board member Monika Johnson-Hostle​r defeated Gregory Hahn and Dorian Hamilton. Johnson-Hostle​r had 51 percent of the vote, while Hahn and Hamilton had 34 and 14 percent, respectively.

In District 7, incumbent board member Chris Heagarty defeated challenger Rachel Mills with 51 percent of the vote.

Board member Lindsay Mahaffey defeated challenger Steve Bergstrom for the District 8 seat 62 to 37 percent.

The only school board incumbent to lose his seat was Bill Fletcher, who was defeated in District 9 by challenger Karen Carter. Daniel Madding was also on the ballot but suspended his campaign in mid-October and endorsed Fletcher. Carter got 54 percent of the vote to Fletcher's 35 percent. Madding got 10 percent of the vote.

Bergstrom, Carter, Hahn, Mills, Moore and Prickett have supported reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic.