Area voters get their say in municipal elections, primaries

Municipal elections will be held Tuesday in Raleigh, Cary and several other area towns, while Durham and Fayetteville hold primaries for mayor and city council.

Posted 9:00 a.m. Oct 6, 2015 — Updated 9:00 a.m. Oct 6, 2015

RALEIGH, N.C. — Municipal elections will be held Tuesday in Raleigh, Cary and several other area towns, while Durham and Fayetteville hold primaries for mayor and city council.

Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m.

While Raleigh's mayoral election features a 2013 rematch between Mayor Nancy McFarlane and chiropractor Bob Weltzin, much of the attention has been focused on the at-large race for City Council, where incumbents Mary-Ann Baldwin and Russ Stephenson face off against real estate developer Craig Ralph and designer Matt Tomasulo.

A group called Wake Citizens for Good Government has waged a television and print ad campaign in the past week alleging that Baldwin is working with by downtown restaurateurs and bar owners seeking more liberal operating rules for their businesses. Baldwin and others named in a related complaint filed with the Wake County Board of Elections have denied the allegations.

The five single-member districts on the Raleigh City Council also are up for grabs.

In Cary, Mayor Hard Weinbrecht is running unopposed, but two Town Council seats are contested.

Voters in Dunn, Erwin, Henderson, Rocky Mount and Sharpsburg also will elect mayors or council members on Tuesday, while Goldsboro has a primary for mayor and one council seat.

In Durham, a primary will whittle the four-person race for mayor down to two for the Nov. 3 election. Mayor Bill Bell is seeking his eighth two-year term and is facing personnel manager Tammy Lightfoot, Time Warner Cable technician James Lyons and John Everett.

Ten people are running for three at-large seats on Durham City Council. Voters will narrow the field to six for the November election.

Fayetteville Mayor Nat Robertson sees a rematch with his 2013 opponent Val Applewhite, a former City Council member, and retired postal worker Ted Donovan also is in the field. The top two vote-getters will advance to the Nov. 3 election.

The primary also will set the fields for two Fayetteville City Council seats.

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