A candidate for Guilford County commissioner who ran for election in District 8 in 2018 – a seat held by Commissioner Skip Alston – is making another go of it in 2020 and is hoping the second time’s a charm.

Fahiym Hanna, the owner and operator of Sensuous Scents & Sights in Greensboro, has his work cut out for him because Alston – except for a two-year hiatus – has been the commissioner for that section of the county since before the beginning of this century.

In a statement announcing his entry into the race, Hanna wrote that he intends to “make people the priority of government” and work to guarantee county residents “access to basic needs.”

His platform includes working to end homelessness in Guilford County and to end food insecurity – “especially among the elderly, children and disabled.” Hanna is also calling for the creation of “supportive conditions” for small businesses as opposed to big box stores. Hanna also stated that he wants to “improve public infrastructure in the rural parts of the county while preserving the natural beauty and privacy that people who moved and lived out to the county enjoy.”

Hanna, who was born in Queens, New York before his family moved to Guilford County, graduated from Glenn High School in Kernersville in 2004 and opened Sensuous Scents two years later.

He served as the President of the Greater Glenwood Neighborhood Association from 2011 to 2014, and, in 2013, he completed the Citizen’s Academy course offered by the City of Greensboro, where citizens learn about the inner workings of city government.

This is his second time running for office but he’s been involved in politics in other ways: In 2012 he served as the field coordinator for former State House Rep. Marcus Brandon in Brandon’s successful reelection campaign against former State House Rep. Earl Jones.

Hanna also made the news in 2013 by voting twice in the general election that year. Election officials discovered Hanna had voted during early voting and then gone into a polling place on Election Day and voted again. Hanna stated at that time that he didn’t realize he’d voted twice in the same election. He said he thought he was voting in the primary and, the second time, in the general election. He later said that he simply forgot he had voted.

Hanna has said in the past that Alston is a good commissioner in some ways, but that Alston is now “old hat” after more than two decades on the board. Hanna said that district needs a fresh face and new ideas.

 

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