GOVERNMENT
By Adam Powell
Correspondent
Friday, July 18, marks the conclusion of the filing period for the 2025 November municipal elections. And while several local races will have fierce competition for new officeholders come autumn, quite a few more appear to be already largely settled.
With the official filing period winding down, three local mayors appeared to be heading towards uncontested elections this fall, as Mark Bell of Hillsborough, Barbara Foushee of Carrboro, and Jess Anderson of Chapel Hill are the only three candidates for those respective races.
After serving two terms on the Hillsborough Town Council from 2015 to 2023, and then earning a two-year term as Hillsborough’s Mayor in 2023, Bell is seeking his second term this fall as Hillsborough’s town leader. Foushee was first elected to the Carrboro Town Council in 2017 and served one and a half terms in that role before being elected Carrboro’s Mayor in 2023. She is also seeking her second term.
Like Bell, Anderson served two terms on the local town council, specifically the Chapel Hill Town Council, from 2015 to 2023, before being elected Mayor in November 2023. She is also seeking her second term as Mayor.
In Chapel Hill, two incumbent members of the Town Council – Paris Miller-Foushee and Camille Berry – have filed to run for re-election. Two other incumbents who were in line for re-election this fall – Karen Stegman and Adam Searing – each announced earlier this summer that they would not be running for another four-year term on the council.
Four non-incumbents have filed in an effort to fill the seats left behind by Stegman and Searing on the Chapel Hill Town Council, including non-profit consultant and artist Erik Valera, financial regulation attorney Jon Mitchell, Wes McMahon, a member of the Town of Chapel Hill’s Planning Commission, and Louie Rivers III, a Senior Social Scientist and Researcher with the United States Environmental Protection Agency. .
In Hillsborough, two incumbent members of the Town Council – Kathleen Ferguson and Mayor Pro Tempore Robb English – have each filed for re-election to new four-year terms. Ferguson will be seeking her fourth consecutive term, having served Hillsborough since 2013, while English is seeking his second full term, having been appointed to the council in 2019 and then elected in 2021.
In Carrboro, three candidates had filed for Town Council as of July 17 – Cristobal Palmer, a recently-added member of the Carrboro Town Council seeking a full term after getting appointed in December 2024, incumbent Danny Nowell, seeking a second full term after first getting elected back in 2021, and Fred Joiner, the Poet Laureate of Carrboro.
Four candidates have filed for seats on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board of Education, including incumbents George Griffin, the Board’s Chair, Riza Jenkins, the Board’s Vice-Chair, along with research data librarian Lynnee Argabright and Melinda Manning, a former assistant dean of students at UNC Chapel Hill and director of the UNC Health Beacon Program.
Candidates running for City Council in the City of Mebane also filed in Orange County, as Mebane spans both Alamance and Orange Counties. In Mebane, incumbents Tim Bradley, Montreena W. Hadley, and Jonathan White are all running for re-election. Bradley has been a member of the Mebane City Council since 1993 and is seeking his ninth consecutive term in office. Meanwhile, Hadley, a longtime member of the Mebane Planning Department, and local businessman White are seeking election to their second full terms after being first elected in 2021. Filing to challenge Bradley, Hadley, and White are Rick Thomas, a local engineer, and Blair Helms, a member of the Mebane Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission (BPAC).
Adam Powell has been a correspondent for The Local Reporter since 2023. A 2001 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, Powell has served as managing editor of multiple local publications, including the News of Orange County, the Mebane Enterprise, the Caswell Messenger, and the ACC Sports Journal. Powell has won more than 20 North Carolina Press Association Awards throughout his journalism career for Excellence in Education Reporting, Excellence in Sports Columns and Features, and Excellence in Video Production. He has also been recognized by the North Carolina School Public Relations Association (NCSPRA) for Excellence in Education Writing and for his newsletters representing Rockingham County Schools and the North Carolina Cyber Academy. The author of four books. Adam currently resides in Mebane with his wife Julie and children Colt and Jenna. This reporter can be reached at:Information@TheLocal Reporter.press
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