Burlington councilman Ronnie Wall, Graham councilman Joey Parsons, Elon council member Stephanie Bourland among those not running for reelection
The rainy aftermath from Tropical Storm Chantal didn’t dampen the enthusiasm for candidates ready to run in this year’s municipal elections.
Even though there was a two-hour delay for the opening of county government, Dawn Hurdle, the county’s election director, said the elections office stuck to its usual schedule on Monday – which it had previously advertised as the first day of candidate filing for this fall’s municipal elections.
“We opened at 8:00 a.m.,” she recalled later that morning, “in case anybody wanted to file first thing.”
Hurdle added that, in the end, this gesture only benefited one early bird filer, whom she identified as Randy Phillips, a retired emergency services worker who now hopes to clinch one of the two available seats on Graham’s city council.
But the office was also busy later in the day as other candidates filed for election or reelection – and there’s been a pretty steady stream of candidates filing on Tuesday and Wednesday, as well.
In other Graham races, city councilman Bobby Chin filed for a second, four-year term on the city council, which also drew a second non-incumbent candidate, Jim Young, a member of the city’s planning board and a former mayoral candidate in 2017. The second incumbent Graham councilman, Joey Parsons, has indicated he will not seek reelection inasmuch as he is anticipating a move outside the city.
And Graham mayor Jennifer Talley also filed for reelection.
In Swepsonville, three incumbent council members filed for reelection on Monday: Henry Car-routh, who currently serves as mayor, as well as incumbent councilmen John Andrews and Wilbur Suggs.
In Elon, non-incumbent Steve Exum filed for a seat on the town council. Two council seats are on the ballot this year, those of Randy Orwig and Stephanie Bourland. Bourland has indicated she doesn’t plan to seek reelection; Orwig told The Alamance News that he plans to seek reelection, although he had not yet filed.
And in Burlington, former mayor Ian Baltutis filed for a city council seat. Mayor Jim Butler, who ousted Baltutis four years ago, is not seeking reelection. Councilman and former mayor Ronnie Wall told The Alamance News this week that he is not planning to run for reelection or for mayor; councilman Harold Owen has not yet indicated his intentions on reelection.
Donna M. Vanhook, who ran for Burlington mayor in 2021 and as a Democrat for state senate in 2024, has filed for a seat on the Burlington city council.
Meanwhile, the second and third day of filing brought out mostly incumbents filing for reelection.
Patricia Jones and Jose McBroom filed for reelection to two available seats on the Green Level town council. Meanwhile, a third candidate, Lesley Carter, has also filed for the Green Level Council.
Incumbent councilmen Richard A. Overman and Jim McAdams have filed for the two seats on the Ossipee town council.
Incumbent alderman Philip Cheap filed for one of three alderman seats on the Village of Alamance board of aldermen. Also filing Wednesday was Ken Cass.
The one newcomer filing on Tuesday was Blair Helms, who filed for a seat on the Mebane city council.
Incumbent Mebane council members Tim Bradley, who’s currently serving as the mayor pro tem, and Montrena Hadley filed for reelection on Wednesday. The third incumbent, Jonathan White, has said he intends to run, but has not yet filed.
Meanwhile, former planning board member Kurt Pearson announces today his candidacy for a seat on the Mebane city council. [See separate story in this edition.]
