Wake County Democratic Party endorses challenger over Baldwin in Raleigh mayor race

Anna Johnson

The Wake County Democratic Party released its Raleigh City Council election endorsements Monday, snubbing some incumbents, including Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin.

Instead, the Wake County Democrats endorsed challenger Terrance Ruth for mayor.

Ruth, a lecturer in N.C. State University’s School of Social Work and former executive director of the North Carolina NAACP, is a first-time candidate for the Raleigh City Council.

“It’s really encouraging to be endorsed by a group that has been a trusted guide for Wake County residents,” Ruth said. “Since this nonpartisan race has only Democratic candidates, I am sure the decision called for extra research and evaluation. And I want to thank everyone at WCDP that put the time and effort into understanding each candidate.”

Terrance Ruth
Terrance Ruth

The only incumbents endorsed are Council members Jonathan Melton and Stormie Forte for the two at-large seats.

The Raleigh City Council election is nonpartisan, but only Democrats were considered for the endorsements.

The Wake County Democrats’ endorsements, made by the WCDP’s Executive Council, include:

  • Terrance Ruth for mayor

  • Jonathan Melton and Stormie Forte for the two at-large seats. Melton is an incumbent and Forte currently represents District D.

  • Mary Black for District A

  • Megan Patton for District B

  • Frank Fields for District C

  • Jane Harrison for District D

  • Christina Jones for District E

‘Radical activists’

Raleigh elections are normally held in odd-numbered years with other nonpartisan races, but the Raleigh City Council sought to move its elections to even-numbered years, which traditionally see more partisan elections.

Despite that change, Baldwin said she isn’t worried about the local Democratic Party not endorsing her.

“I have $500,000 in the bank,” she said in an interview with The News & Observer. “I’m going to take my message to all the voters of Raleigh, and not just a few radical activists. I’m going to reach out to Democrats, independents and Republicans like I always have, and share with them my vision for how we move Raleigh forward.”

The “radical activists” are those within the Democratic Party with “radical ideas,” Baldwin said, but she declined to say what those ideas were.

“I am a Democrat,” she said. “I’m pro choice, pro smart growth, pro housing affordability, pro equality, pro transit, pro parks and green space. And, you know, I don’t know what they would be looking for in a candidate.”

She also said it wasn’t wise to endorse candidates in nonpartisan elections with multiple Democrats.

“I think that the Democratic Party should have stayed out of this race, because what they’re doing is dividing people at a time when Democrats all need to be coming together to elect a senator and legislative leaders,” she said. “. And I think tactically and strategically, it probably wasn’t the best decision.”

‘Dumpster fire’

The Wake County Democrat Party did debate whether to endorse in the municipal elections, Party Chair Kevyn Creech said.

“We have this giant general election, with quite frankly much bigger fish to fry,” she said. “We thought we better check with our Raleigh CEC and see how they feel.”

On June 1, Wake County Democrats held a County Executive Committee (CEC) meeting which includes officers in the county party, chair and vice chair of each precinct, officers of affiliated organizations, officers of the state and district executive committees and elected Democrats who live in the county. The Raleigh members of the CEC voted to have the party’s executive council give endorsements in all the Raleigh municipal races, Creech said.

“It doesn’t matter when it is or what it is or how it is, the Raleigh municipal elections are always a raging dumpster fire,” she said. “The only thing that changes from election to election is the size of the dumpster or the height of the flames.”

The local party didn’t endorse anyone in the mayor’s race in 2019. Creech wasn’t part of that discussion but said she believes it stemmed from “the turmoil that happened in 2017.”

The Wake County Democrats had previously endorsed former Mayor Nancy McFarlane, who is unaffiliated, but endorsed Charles Francis, a Democrat, in 2017. The decision sharply divided local Democrats.

Since the Wake Democrats endorsement announcements, Creech has heard from people upset with the party’s decision. But while some of those people have been involved with the local party previously, they haven’t been involved lately, she said.

“There’s a lot of, I think, genuine shock and dismay,” Creech said. “But what would have been radical, is if we just ignored what the Raleigh CEC told us to do. We actually did the non-radical thing, which is we did what we were asked to do by the Raleigh CEC.”

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