Finding ‘common ground.’ Meet Carissa Johnson, Cary’s newest council member

Carissa Johnson wasn’t sure if voters in Cary —dubbed the “richest city in America” — would be drawn to the issue of affordable housing like she was.

But that’s what drew her to politics. The issue of housing, which she calls a “crisis,” is still all the more present and relevant in the town. Johnson said she knows what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck.

So she made it central to her campaign when she ran for Cary’s at-large seat on the Town Council.

“Running on affordable housing in this area, I thought, my gosh, I’m not sure this is going to go over well,” Johnson said in an interview. “I think everyone, even at higher income levels, are starting to feel that pinch of housing affordability.”

Johnson, 49, is the newest addition to the Cary Town Council as the second at-large member after winning her race this summer. In May, she beat incumbent Ed Yerha with 40% of the vote and faced off with Ken George in July, winning with more than 52% of the vote.

She will be sworn in on Aug. 25, moments before her first council meeting. She is the first new member to join the Town Council since 2019, when Ya Liu, who was elected to council to serve District D.

Johnson, born in western New York, first came to North Carolina on a snowy Spring day in 1996, shortly after graduating from Nazareth College with a degree in sociology. She came in pursuit of new opportunities and warmer weather, she said.

Most Cary residents became familiar with Johnson and her grassroots strategy on the campaign trail that started last year. She ran on a platform that included environmentally friendly practices, affordable housing and inequity in the community, which she found were issues that resonated deeply with many residents.

Johnson credits her win to the multiple people she had on her campaign trail who helped her fill out thousands of postcards, knock on doors, make phone calls and support her for the year.

“There was an army of people who reached out and proactively offered to do fairly specific things,” she said. “It was kind of amazing.”

Lori Bush, the other at-large member of the Cary Town Council, said she is looking forward to working with Johnson on the issues she ran on, many of which she shares.

“I think one of the great things about having someone new is it ups all of our game,” Bush said in an interview. “We all benefit from having a new voice at the table.”

Marching to make impact

In her full-time job, Johnson works as a product marketing manager for Axcient, an IT channel company that sells disaster recovery solutions to small businesses.

She got her start in the IT world in 2013 working for GFI Software, a Scotland-based company. Johnson then ventured into healthcare IT at Relias for four years before being laid off during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“What’s great about working with a product that supports IT folks is that it’s honest,” she said. “It helps them make an honest living. There’s no smoke and mirrors, it’s very honest and open and direct and that’s one of the things I truly love about what I do.”

Johnson said she is still paying off student loans. She worked for years as a waitress in the area.

“I understand what it’s like not to have resources to dip into,” she said. “I had friends and family with resources and I understand that not everybody has that. Those folks are always in the front of my mind.”

Being transparent is how Johnson plans to lead on the council, she said. She said she isn’t particularly private when it comes to her own experiences and issues she cares deeply about, especially getting more housing for people in the community.

In learning more about the housing crisis in the community and how she can help, Johnson said it was important for her to listen to residents and people already working to solve the issue.

“It’s going to take a lot of people that are truly willing to work together to bring resources together,” she said. “It’s going to take a concert of people marching in the same direction to make any kind of impact.”

Johnson said the issue of affordable housing will take more than just dedicated members on the Town Council but also non-profits, local builders, county leaders and people at the state and federal level.

As a volunteer, she serves as a Guardian ad Litem for the state’s District 10 of the Judicial Branch and works with children aging out of foster care. Johnson was appointed to determine the needs of abused and neglected children and helps represent them in court.

Johnson said there is an intersection between affordable housing and foster children who reach 18. She wants to help ensure they have housing, too.

“That’s a group of folks who really could use an advocate, and if we could focus on them as a population and see if we can get some folks to work towards meaningful efforts to keep them securely housed … they can get a better start in life,” she said. “If I can have any kind of impact with that population, I would be incredibly proud to.”

A new voice on Council

Bush was one of those people who was instrumental in helping on the campaign trail, Johnson said. Bush, who will swear in Johnson at the ceremony, said she has had a chance to see Johnson’s leadership skills in practice by observing her work as a volunteer.

“Carissa was one of the volunteers on the Information Services Advisory Board,” Bush said. “That’s how I originally met her and got a chance to know her and what she cares about. I think she’ll be a great new voice on Town Council.”

Jack Smith, who won his run-off election to keep his District C seat, said he is excited to see Johnson grow on the Council. Smith, who has served the town for nearly 30 years, has seen several new members take their seats on Town Council.

“She ran on Cary issues and I think it’s always exciting to have those fresh eyes,” Smith said. “When I first met her, obviously we hit it off because she said, ‘Let’s meet at an Irish pub.’”

One of Johnson’s hidden talents is being able to tell anyone visiting Cary where they can find the best restaurants in town, she said.

“I’ve got a lifelong hatred for cooking and I only have one kid so I used to rationalize that it was cheaper for she and I to go out for a meal with leftovers,” she said. “There’s some absolute gems in town.”

Cary Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said he talked with Johnson for an hour on Monday as part of her preparation for her first council meeting.

“I am already impressed by her work ethic and attention to detail,” he said. “I look forward to working with her and seeing what she brings to (the) Council.”

‘I would have been a sports coach’

Cary’s election was initially set for fall 2021 but was delayed after the U.S. Census Bureau said it couldn’t release district data as scheduled. Cary, like other municipalities, had to delay their election.

Johnson said that meant candidates had more time to connect with voters and residents. Running for Town Council was a big learning experience for her, though.

“I just didn’t understand the scope of the challenge was how much money it costs to run for office,” she said.

The nonpartisan election typically stays nonpartisan, Johnson said. She did, however, get endorsements from the North Carolina Democratic Party, Equality NC and former democratic leaders. Johnson herself is a Democrat.

“Even though I do believe that we can take financial support from different individuals without being biased, it was the perception that really bothered me,” she said. “So, I didn’t have as much of a budget as I would have liked to.”

She believes “there’s always some common ground for everyone.”

“We’ve talked at length about staying focused on Cary issues and what Cary can legally do and how we can work with our legislative body to move things forward.”

As a result, being out in neighborhoods was her best tactic to win the election. Johnson was in town parades and became involved in community events to meet people. Her volunteers hand-wrote 6,000 postcards to send to residents in town, she said.

“This was the biggest lesson I learned,” Johnson said. “I have learned that when you really want to be part of something good and you want to help and you want to move the needle, don’t wait to be asked. Don’t wait to be asked to offer help, because some of the most effective efforts on my behalf are other people’s ideas.”

The day before Johnson was sworn in, she reflected on all the people who helped her get elected and how she can best serve them over the next four years.

“I do believe in leadership roles where it’s incredibly collaborative and I think I would have been a sports coach in another life,” she said with a laugh.