The two candidates left standing in the race to be Greensboro’s next mayor are a former Greensboro mayor and a Greensboro City Council member. After the polls closed on Tuesday, Oct. 7 and the votes were tallied, the voters had narrowed the field to two familiar names: Robbie Perkins, who’s served as the city’s mayor before, and Marikay Abuzuaiter, who currently serves on the Greensboro City Council.
There were two others in the race who didn’t make the cut: Mark Cummings and Akir Khan.
Greensboro Mayor Nancy Vaughan announced earlier this year that she didn’t intend to run again for that seat.
In the race, which will be decided early next month, the voters will have two very well-known quantities since each candidate has been a decision maker for the city over many years.
Both of the primary winners in the race were at the Old Guilford County Court House Tuesday night, in the commissioners meeting room on the second floor – while on the floor beneath them Guilford County election officials were hard at work counting votes.
On Tuesday, the race was called with Abuzuaiter getting 40 percent of the votes while Perkins pulled in just over 32 percent in the primary in which only about one in ten registered voters cast a ballot.
Abuzuaiter was at the old court house with her husband and other family members who had been working the polls all day.
After winning the primary, she said she was extremely pleased about the faith that voters had placed in her.
She said her friends and family had all risen early that day and hit the polls.
Her husband said he had been at Page High School attempting to drum up support for his wife – and they both said one problem with Election Day was that, at several schools, people attempting to vote couldn’t find parking.
Other than that, though, the election went smoothly and both she and Perkins were pleased with what they saw on the large electronic displays in the room that continuously scrolled through the vote counts in the various races.
Perkins pointed out that Greensboro has a housing crisis and a host of other challenges as well.
“We’ve got an infrastructure crisis; we’ve got a public safety question in our community as to how we deal with public safety, and we’ve got a planning concern – because we’ve got all these jobs coming,” Perkins said.
“How are we going to plan for that future?” he asked.
Perkins also said he feels as though he was an effective leader when he served as mayor before and that he can be an effective leader again as Greensboro moves forward.
“I’ve been there before,” he said. “I’ve got major projects done. I’ve unified the entire community on a number of things and intend to do it again. I’ve got a track record and I’m going to make that track record clear and apparent to the voters.”
Like Perkins, Abuzuaiter stressed the need for teamwork as the city progresses.
“I’ve learned that it takes a team to get things done, and that team can be your community; that team can be your regional people who come together; that team can be business owners; that team can be developers,” she said in an interview with News 2 the morning after her primary victory.
“But the biggest thing is making those relationships together – and then you become a team and then you grow and then you know how to move things forward,” she said.
She added that there has been a “massive, massive” effort to make sure that Greensboro keeps progressing .
“You know it doesn’t happen overnight it takes years and years,” she said.
The top vote getting in the mayoral primary said she truly believes that Greensboro has come a very long way in the last several decades.
“There were many days back in the ‘90s and early 2000s where Greensboro’s downtown was a ghost town, or we had no progress going on – and then the textile companies left,” she said. “And losing all those jobs taught us the huge lesson that we needed to focus on our community, the people that are here. But we also need to work regionally.”
Abuzuaiter pointed out that she currently serves on several regional boards and said that has helped her gain perspective and see the importance of everyone working together for a better Greensboro and a better region.
He saids sarcastically,Thanks to the voters and community leaders like Skip, we’re on track to have a Democratic council once again. When I visited sites! I saw a strong presence of Democratic materials—Blac PAC and Guilford for All voter guides were being handed out widely. I heard they even handed it out on the the college campuses. Interestingly, I didn’t see any Republican lists being distributed
You live in the Gerrymandered part of NC that the republicans abandoned. Not complicated.
Chris can you provide a link to where you found the gerrymandering part you are referring to. Or is that info just another part of your imagination
Keep raising our taxes and you wont have a community
we are raising taxes to run you out. it’s my idea. it’s working. ‘ affluent only zones’ because these birds have the RIGHT to flock (lebensraum) HERE those less fortunate, capable, energetic, creative, healthy get pushed out to < desirable habitats until they 'recover', extinct, adapt in unpredictable ecology, weather to become paradise achieved.
Robbie Perkins DOESNT approve of “THE RHINOCEROS TIMES”.
Nothing said about lowering taxes. If you don’t vote that mean you want higher taxes. If you keep the same people in you will get higher taxes.
We are lucky to have PERKINS run for mayor. I ask you to compare the records of the two. Perkins is not a polititian but stepped up when GREENSBORO needed him.
Hope that you will carry on the Rhino Times policy of making endorsements prior to the election. I believe there is unusual interest in this municipal election, and many voters do not know where to look for advice or information.
As the President of DGI in the early 2000s, I take issue with the comment that downtown was a Ghost Town with no progress. In the early 2000s downtown Greensboro saw several hundred housing units built, including Southside. Several dozen new restaurants opened. Trad Stage opened and was successful. The Baseball Stadium was opened. The long vacant Wachovia tower became the beautiful building now known as CenterPoint. Center City Park was built. The N club and others brought nightlife to downtown. Kress building was renovated and filled. Children’s Museum opened. New Library was opened. These and many other investments were made
Many additional improvements have happened since and many more are needed. Downtown, like the city as a whole, needs continued attention. I hope the progress continues, but please don’t forget the hard work and hundreds of millions in investments made by people in the early 2000s. They laid the foundation for what is happening today….there was a lot of Progress in those years.
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You will note that this November’s election is taking place while there are no national elections. This is by design as the LEFT wants a low turnout, so the vote of the faithful will have a clear shot at winning most of the seats. A one in ten turnout will accomplish that.
If I recall correctly, less than 18,000 voters turned up for the last off year election as this, that is much less than a 10% turnout.
Use it or lose it.
“– and then the textile companies left… And losing all those jobs taught us the huge lesson that we needed to focus on our community, the people that are here.”
The huge lesson was that your elected officials will sell you and your communities out in a heartbeat.
Don’t forget that in 2020, Marikay turned on the cops just like the rest of city council at the time. She was more subtle about it, not actively screaming to defend the police, but wavered nonetheless. Robbie has always supported police, even when the rest of the city didn’t.
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You can take that to the bank. Officer Don knows what he’s talking about when it comes to local Law Enforcement matters.
I would love to sit down or at least chat about this misinformation. I NEVER turned on our officers and was one of the few who stood up for them-ask the former chiefs- and the current one, although he may have to stay neutral during a campaign. We have an amazing Police Department and I WAS vocal in their support. My personal cell number is 336-314-9620. Please look at my website for references from retired law enforcement personnel. Current ones are not allowed to comment for candidates.
Like when you and council let GPD get so far behind the 8-ball with over 100 vacancies and no take home car program they even the most anti-police members of council had to finally relent and make changes? I don’t recall any motions from you to fully fund a take home car program immediately, not the atrocity that they have now. The ridiculous 20 cars a year plan is still being slow rolled after half a decade and officers are still hot-seating cars to this day when ZERO other agencies in the surrounding area are without a fully implemented take home car program. Thinking like that keeps that agency on the struggle bus. You sure had time to spend several council meetings griping about that traffic stop though. And in the end the kid was sitting on a gun the whole time. Way to go.
GPD also had to give up positions to get those raises, so in return council can say they are fully staffed. All those vacancies are magically gone only because you eliminated the positions. And last time I asked, Patrol was still going out with about 50 empty slots, despite being “full”.
Meanwhile you’re voting to approve non-essential nonsense expenditures. Government should focus on governing, not charity, arts, etc. If I want to support a charity, let me decide where and when to do so with my own money. Stop wasting my tax money and spend it wisely.
Tax payers want streets without potholes, well trained and equipped police and fire, and a working infrastructure system, hell maybe even some loose leaf collection now and then, but that’s about it. We don’t need cure violence programs that do not cure violence, art projects paid for with tax dollars, and countless hours of do-nothing declarations from the dias that serve no one. Get back to business and run the government like a business, a successful one preferably.
Thanks Don for a very insightful and heartfelt reply.
$6.23 Beats $34.18; In Greensboro Mayor’s Race, a Money Gap Didn’t Create a Vote Gap; Abuzuaiter vs. Perkins in General
Outspent 4-to-1, Abuzuaiter Tops Perkins in Primary
https://www.publicintegrity.watch/p/623-beats-3418-in-greensboro-mayors
Marikay will lead Greensboro into a higher tax, more non profit BS abyss. She is sneaky with her attitude towards police. This council loves to talk about how the police have no vacancies. That because the department had to give up 30 positions to get parity against other departments. This council would rather give $ to everything’s but the police, infrastructure and housing. Bring back someone who can promote those things for the city. Bring back Robbie
what % of eligible voters voted ?
You should have stated that Abuzuaiter is Mayor ProTem . I know the Rhino will be supporting Perkins but at least present the Mayor Pro Tem as she is. Keep it respectful. Today starts the mudslinging and I know there are several Rhino will be slinging like mad. At least start out respectful
luv it we ‘START OUT respectful’
I said it before…unless the local GOP quietly finds money for Robbie it’s over.
I voted but not for these two! I’m more interested in the homeless, and the high cost of housing! Crime would decrease if jobs and affordable housing were the main focus! Food, clothing, and shelter are the essentials of survival if you don’t address that communities will suffer!