WILMINGTON — The Wilmington City Council will have three new members come December, though the city’s longtime mayor, Bill Saffo, has retained his leadership role despite being challenged on both sides of the aisle.
ALSO: Wilmington City Council race hits quarter-million mark in fundraising
Though city council is a nonpartisan race, after Tuesday night’s election it will have a wholly Democratic board. The New Hanover County Democratic Party won big securing a council seat for each of its endorsees: JC Lyle, Cassidy Santaguida and Chakema Clinton-Quintana. They beat out incumbents Luke Waddell, a Republican who came in fourth place, and Clifford Barnett, a Democrat who came in sixth. City councilmember Charlie Rivenbark did not seek reelection.
The three women — who will join current council members Salette Andrews, Kevin Spears and David Joyner in December — will make the Wilmington City Council a female-majority for what appears to be the first time in the city’s history.
All three candidates described feeling “overwhelmed” for the support that launched them to the front of the race on Election Night.
“I’m just really grateful to have had the opportunity to run for office; I didn’t know what to expect my first time and to be in the lead is just really exciting,” Lyle told Port City Daily at the Democratic Party’s watch party Tuesday. “It means a lot to know that so many people share my vision for Wilmington, share the values.”
Port City Daily asked each candidate what they anticipate will be the first policy they tackle. Each named housing affordability.
“I know that’s been a big piece of the platform for other candidates as well, and so I feel like that’s going to be something that we all prioritize, because we’re listening to voters, and that’s what they’ve asked us to prioritize,” Santaguida said.
Santaguida has previously said she would like to see the city prioritize infill development where infrastructure already exists and ensure new projects include affordable units, not just luxury housing. She also wants more developer accountability for projects to fit Wilmington’s community character.
All three candidates said they are committed to finding housing solutions that work in tandem with environmental protections, a chief concern among residents that show up to community meetings resisting new housing developments.
“Everybody understands housing because everybody needs a place to live, and everybody understands how to really focus on protecting our environment, too,” Lyle said. “It’s very special, very delicate and unique here in the coastal region.”
Lyle, who has experience with home-repair assistance in her term as CEO of the nonprofit WARM NC, said she wants to focus on reducing any current barriers to housing accessibility in the city’s current programming and offerings. She previously suggested housing solutions include redeveloping underused commercial sites and parking lots, while at the same time, upholding high design standards and ensuring transparency in the development approval process.
Clinton-Quintana, director of Live Oak Bank’s small business center, wants to bring her experience in the public-private partnership realm for creative housing solutions while also supporting inclusionary zoning measures to benefit mixed-income communities.
“Just making sure that, you know, people are doing the responsible thing when it comes to Wilmington and also not just seeing one area of Wilmington grow, but I want to see all of Wilmington grow and we do things together,” Clinton-Quintana said Tuesday.
The newcomers — though Lyle had a stint on the city’s planning board for six years — will be sworn in alongside incumbent Saffo, who will enter his 10th term as mayor.
Saffo did not immediately respond to PCD’s request for comment.
He beat out Republican candidate and second-place finisher Billy Craig and former county commissioner Jonathan Barfield, also a Democrat.
Craig told Port City Daily Wednesday he was disappointed but “not heartbroken” over the results: “It is what it is.”
As far as his political prospects, Craig said he has “some things in the works” that he’ll most likely decide on in the next couple weeks, though he wasn’t inclined to share yet.
While both Barfield and Barnett align with the Democratic Party, neither gained the party’s endorsement after a straw poll winnowed the party’s slate. The poll, which took in votes from party members outside the city, was controversial, with Barfield telling WECT the process reminded him of the “Democratic party of 1898,” referring to the white supremacist Democrats that led a coup and massacre against Black Wilmingtonians.
Barfield was more at peace with his loss when talking with Port City Daily Wednesday.
“I look at everything that happens is the Lord’s will, and so for me, that was his will for me for me,” Barfield said.
On whether he’ll continue to run for political office, Barfield said he was “probably done,” though he’ll continue to serve on statewide boards, including the N.C. Institute of Political Leadership and the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.
“I’ll just continue to put my focus there and take care of my family,” Barfield said.
Barnett did not immediately respond to PCD.
Tuesday night, several people at the watch party expressed surprise at Waddell’s finish. The incumbent councilmember came in 893 percentage points behind Clinton-Quintana, just outside the 1% margin — or 689.49 votes — where recounts can be requested.
Waddell, who held a party in the downtown bar and restaurant Husk’s outdoor patio while the Democratic Party was upstairs in the piano bar Tempo 33, came up to congratulate the three council winners around 10 p.m. on Tuesday.
“I’m certainly disappointed in the results from last night but I’m proud of the work we’ve done over the last four years and grateful for the chance to serve the community,” he told Port City Daily Wednesday.
During his tenure, Waddell has championed green space and the promotion of downtown business with the city’s first social district, but he most recently gained attention for his anti-camping ordinance aimed at reducing the presence of people experiencing homelessness. Though the ordinance ultimately passed in a 5-2 vote, Waddell took a lot of flak for the move.
As for whether he’ll continue seeking political office, Waddell said his current priority is his family.
“Campaigns and holding elected office are demanding and I’m looking forward to being more present at home,” he said. “As for what comes next, I’m going to take some time to reflect before making any decisions. I love this community, and I’ll always stay engaged in ways that help move Wilmington forward.”
New Hanover County GOP Chair John Hinnant said the GOP knew it needed a minimum of 12,500 votes to re-elect Waddell, but in recent history, no municipal candidate has received more than 10,000 votes. On Tuesday, four candidates exceeded that number in, as Hinnant said, a “testament to efforts made by both parties.”
However, Hinnant said the GOP had a hard time getting voters to turn out, though not for lack of effort. He reported volunteers knocked on close to 6,000 doors and sent out thousands of text messages.
“Unfortunately, it seems as if some local Republican voters have given up on our city and that level of apathy cost us dearly,” he wrote in a statement to PCD. “So it is imperative for New Hanover County voters to TRULY understand that local is everything: our state and national Republican elected officials need us to deliver victories at the local level.”
In the first referendum since President Donald Trump took office earlier this year, the Republican Party saw a rebuke nationwide, chiefly in the New Jersey and Virginia governors’ races that went to Democrats. New York City also elected its first Democratic Socialist and Muslim candidate, Zohran Mamdani, rejecting Democratic establishment pick Andrew Cuomo.
Rep. Deb Butler, North Carolina General Assembly representative whose district encompasses much of Wilmington, told Port City Daily Tuesday night the Democratic swing across the nation and in Wilmington reflected the electorate’s “pent-up frustration.”
“I think an awakening is happening to what [Democrats] have been saying,” Butler said. “People are starting to feel it in their pocketbooks. They’re starting to feel it in the crops rotting in the field, in the SNAP benefits not received, in the healthcare premiums that are going up. I mean, when it hits home, you think, ‘Gosh, what have I done? Maybe I better rethink this.’”
California residents also passed Proposition 50, with 63.8% of voters approving of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to redraw the state’s congressional districts to give Democrats the advantage in five more seats. The move was a response to Texas’ strategy to redraw districts in favor of Republicans at the behest of President Trump, who is trying to shore up seats across the nation to keep Republicans in power after next year’s midterms.
The North Carolina General Assembly entered the fray last month when the state’s GOP supermajority passed a new congressional map that altered district 1, currently held by Rep. Don Davis and long held by a Black representative. Almost half of district’s voters are racial or ethnic minorities, 40% of whom are Black. The new plan is projected to shift this demographic to 60% white and 40% minority. A lawsuit has already been filed alleging the new plan violated the Voting Rights Act.
Republicans followed up Tuesday’s passage of Proposition 50 with a lawsuit. Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, the argument is that the new maps are unconstitutional because they improperly use voters’ race as a factor in drawing districts. Republicans are asking the court to block the maps from taking effect.
Reach journalist Brenna Flanagan at brenna@localdailymedia.com.
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