Durham Mayor Elaine O’Neal says she won’t run for re-election. Here’s why
Elaine O’Neal, the first African-American woman to serve as mayor of Durham, announced Thursday that she will not seek a second term.
“I’m almost 30 years in at this point of being in the public limelight,” O’Neal said in a phone interview ahead of the announcement. “I just want to do some different things with my life, including putting my family first.”
O’Neal, 61, is newly engaged. She is a mother and grandmother but keeps details about her family private.
In an interview last year, she said it’s been challenging to deal with the personal attacks that come with the job.
“It’s been in the back of my mind for the last six or eight months, kind of rethinking what I want to do with my life,” O’Neal said Thursday.
O’Neal said she has no regrets and believes she did the best she could.
“It’s been a great ride. I love the city of Durham, but I love my family more,” she said.
Saying goodbye
Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton lamented O’Neal’s departure in a statement Thursday.
“I told the mayor on more than one occasion that I hoped she would seek a second term, which I have no doubt the people of Durham would have granted easily,” Middleton said.
“I salute and thank her for a transformative leadership experience and for reminding us that the true measurement of the greatness of our city is taken from the bottom up,” the statement continued.
Council member Leonardo Williams came into office with O’Neal in 2021. The two have “different philosophies” on housing, he acknowledged, but that hasn’t kept them from working together.
“While we may fall on different sides of the vote often, I just really appreciate her invoking a very personable passion,” Williams said.
The statement arrived shortly after 5:30 p.m., one typed paragraph, signed with pen and emailed.
“Serving the people and the city I love dearly as Mayor has been an honor. My love for Durham and its citizens has never wavered, and it never will. However, at this time in my life, my attention has shifted to prioritizing my family. Therefore, I will not seek another term,” O’Neal wrote.
Who’s running for Durham mayor?
Williams said he is not ruling out a run for mayor.
“Nothing is off the table. There are conversations I’m having with folks,” he said Thursday. “What I care most about is having colleagues that I can work with. We don’t always have to agree, but we have to work together.”
Middleton declined to say whether he intends to run.
“Today is not a day for political speculation or announcements about future plans. Today is a day for gratitude and thankfulness that Elaine O’Neal answered the call to serve. We are a better city for it,” he said in his statement.
Both men would keep their City Council seats if they lost.
O’Neal said she hopes her successor will be a true public servant.
“I love my city and I’m hopeful and prayerful that the next mayor will love it just as much as I do,” she said.
Javiera Caballero, who lost the 2021 primary to O’Neal, said she will not run for mayor again, but will seek another term on City Council.
Her seat and two others are on the ballot this year.
“I wish her well in whatever her next endeavor is,” Caballero said Thursday.
O’Neal’s tenure
O’Neal is a former district court judge who grew up in the city’s West End neighborhood.
She typically votes against annexations, especially in rapidly growing southeast Durham, and has stood beside council members DeDreana Freeman and Monique Holsey-Hyman as they’ve weathered controversies this year.
The three often vote together. They voted against the budget this week, though it passed anyway.
One of her biggest priorities since being elected in 2021 has been rooting out gun violence, which struck her own family in April, and not for the first time.
She’s keenly aware of growing inequalities in her hometown, the 71st largest U.S. city by the latest Census estimates, often speaking of what she calls “two Main Streets.”
“On one end of our Main Street, you see the high rises, the shops, the restaurants, the million-dollar condos that are now being sold,” O’Neal said in September. “And on the other end of Main Street, you see historic communities of color threatened by displacement in the face of rising housing prices and gentrification pressures.”
City Council races growing crowded
The three at-large members of the City Council also will face election this year.
Javiera Caballero, who is announcing her run next week
Monique Holsey-Hyman, who is running
Jillian Johnson, who said she’s not yet ready to announce anything
While the mayor’s term lasts just two years, City Council terms last four years.
Several people have announced candidacies:
Nate Baker, a planning commissioner with an interest in making cities more walkable, inclusive and transit-oriented
Carl Rist, a progressive with a longtime career at a Washington, D.C.-based think tank (and the support of former Mayor Steve Schewel)
Sherri Zann Rosenthal, a former deputy city attorney with extensive housing experience
Shanetta Burris, a double graduate of N.C. Central University, is a program manager with Lillian’s List.
How to vote in Durham’s municipal elections
Dates to know in 2023:
July 7-21: Candidate filing period
Oct. 10: Primary Day
Nov. 7: Election Day
Heads up, NC residents must now show a photo ID to vote, the state Supreme Court ruled.
Learn how to register by visiting dcovotes.com.
