The Greensboro City Council primary wasn’t full of surprises, but it did have a somewhat unexpected result.
In the City Council at-large race, At-large City Councilmember Yvonne Johnson finished first with 25 percent of the vote, At-large City Councilmember Marikay Abuzuaiter finished second with 16 percent and Tracy Furman finished third with 10.24 percent.
At-large City Councilmember Hugh Holston finished fourth with 10.04 percent, but it was expected that Holston, being a sitting councilmember, would finish third even though it was Holston’s first run for office. Holston was appointed to the City Council in September 2021 to fill the seat vacated by former At-large City Councilmember Michelle Kennedy, who resigned to accept the position of Greensboro Neighborhood Development Department director.
Holston has his work cut out for him if he wants to keep his job because Greensboro voters prefer to elect women over men on the City Council. District 3 City Councilmember Justin Outling was the only male elected to the nine-member City Council in 2017.
Both Furman and Holston are winners in the primary because the top six move on to the general election, where the top three finishers win election to the City Council.
Finishing fifth and also winning was Katie Rosabi with 9.84 percent, who will be the lone Republican running for an at-large seat on the City Council in July. The races are nonpartisan, but it is no secret that the current City Council is made up of nine Democrats.
The final winner in the at-large primary was Linda Wilson with 9.55 percent, who finished sixth.
Franca Jalloh finished seventh with 6.89 percent, Melodi Fentress finished eighth with 5.82 percent, Dustin Keene finished ninth with 3.81 percent and Taffy Buchanan finished 10th with 2.42 percent.
The City Council district races didn’t have any surprises.
District 1 City Councilmember Sharon Hightower won the primary with 78 percent of the vote and will face Felton Foushee who finished with 13 percent in the July 26 general election. Timothy Kirkpatrick who had 9 percent was eliminated.
District 2 City Councilmember Goldie Wells won the primary with 43 percent and will face Cecile (CC) Crawford who finished with 30 percent in the general election. Portia Shipman finished third in the District 2 primary with 17 percent and Latoya Bernice Gathers fourth with 11 percent.
The District 3 City Council race doesn’t have an incumbent, but former District 3 City Councilmember Zack Matheny finished first with 61 percent and will face Chip Roth who had 28 percent in the general election. Bill Marshburn had 11 percent of the vote.
There was no primary in District 4.
District 5 City Councilmember Tammi Thurm won the primary with 45 percent and former District 5 City Councilmember Tony Wilkins finished second with 42 percent. The two will face each other in the general election, which will be a rematch of the 2017 general election when Wilkins was the incumbent and Thurm was the challenger. Robert Bodenhamer finished with 12 percent of the vote and was eliminated.
Same old anti- police council! General election we need to vote out the current sitting council. How much more taxpayers money will be given away to “friends of the council” with NO accountability? We can’t fix stupidity, ignorance or arrogance, we can only vote it out!
No, you can’t vote it out. You can never vote politicians out in this city or county. I’ve finally accepted this fact. You have to move to another state to be replaced.
I will grit my teeth and vote for Nancy. I do not think Justin thinks much of the police department.