Greensboro attorney Frankie T. Jones Jr. just announced his desire to fill the Guilford County Board of Commissioners District 7 seat left vacant by the recent passing of longtime District 7 Commissioner Carolyn Coleman.

Members of the Guilford County Democratic Party’s Executive Committee along with other local party members will meet on Thursday, Feb. 17 to hold a special election to fill the seat that Coleman held for two decades.

Jones is a well known quantity in the party and in the community.  He served on– or is currently serving on – the boards of Gateway Research Park, Triad Stage, Triad Goodwill and Piedmont Land Conservancy and Preservation Greensboro. He is also the current chair of the Greensboro Sports Council and a Silver Life Member in the NAACP.

Jones is a vice president and managing director in the Investments Department at Lincoln Financial.

He has some important support in his quest to fill the seat.  On Monday, Feb. 7, Chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners Skip Alston said he doesn’t have a vote in the matter, but he said he wanted to see Jones in that seat and would be working to see that that happened.

“He has the resume,” Alston said of Jones.

 Jones has also served as a former chair of the Real Property Section of the North Carolina Bar Association and as a former member of the Davidson College Board of Visitors.

“He looked at running for the District 7 seat four years ago because he thought Carolyn might not run,” Alston said. “But he told me he would never run against her because he had too much respect for her.  That is a gentleman’s way to do it.”

Alston said the right choice is pretty obvious to him.

“He’s another Ray Trapp,” Alston said, referring to the former Guilford County commissioner who was one of the most universally liked county commissioners of all time.

A press release from Jones states that Jones “has the local government, community, and professional experience to continue Ms. Coleman’s legacy of effectively representing the constituents of District 7.”

It adds: “He is the current Chairman of the Guilford County Planning Board, a position he has held since 2017. He is also a member of the Greensboro Planning & Zoning Commission, Piedmont Triad Regional Water Authority Board, and the Greensboro ABC Board. He is a former Chairman of the Greensboro Board of Adjustment and a graduate of the City of Greensboro City Academy.”

Before joining Lincoln Financial, Jones was a partner in the Greensboro office of Smith Moore Leatherwood LLP, where he focused his practice on real estate and business law.

Jones was born in Alamance County and got his B.A. in History from Davidson College, where he also played football as a starter.  

He was a James B. Duke scholar at Davidson who later earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law.