Incumbent: Nancy Vaughan
Challengers: John Brown, Dianne Moffett
Vaughan is the first person since Keith Holliday to be reelected. She campaigned to be more transparent four years ago than her predecessor but has been less so. Like most mayors, she has ignored the city's east side. While there are members of the creative community who have developed a rapport with her, Vaughan's commitment to the Tanger PAC and the city's old guard seriously compromises her position as a friend of the arts.
Her first opponent, Brown, says that he's a supporter of the arts but unlike ex-mayor Bill Knight, I've never seen him at any of the local arts events. He might frequent the same art events as the city's 1% but none of the really groundbreaking or iconoclastic stuff. Then, there's this (and four more like it).
The other challenger, Moffett, is a popular pastor in East Greensboro. The catch is that her downtown apartment isn't her primary residence.
The underlying premise is that Vaughan is unpopular but not unpopular enough for a unifying opponent to dethrone her. Absent a major political earthquake, one of the challengers will be eliminated on October 10. Conservatives in West Greensboro are unlikely to support Moffett if Brown is eliminated and could sit out the mayor's race like they did in '13 and '15. Meanwhile, blacks in East Greensboro are just as unlikely to support Brown if Moffett is eliminated and could either skip the mayoral selection or very reluctantly support Vaughan.
As a result, I am encouraging the creative community to skip this race in the primary and the primary only.
Vaughan is the first person since Keith Holliday to be reelected. She campaigned to be more transparent four years ago than her predecessor but has been less so. Like most mayors, she has ignored the city's east side. While there are members of the creative community who have developed a rapport with her, Vaughan's commitment to the Tanger PAC and the city's old guard seriously compromises her position as a friend of the arts.
Her first opponent, Brown, says that he's a supporter of the arts but unlike ex-mayor Bill Knight, I've never seen him at any of the local arts events. He might frequent the same art events as the city's 1% but none of the really groundbreaking or iconoclastic stuff. Then, there's this (and four more like it).
The other challenger, Moffett, is a popular pastor in East Greensboro. The catch is that her downtown apartment isn't her primary residence.
The underlying premise is that Vaughan is unpopular but not unpopular enough for a unifying opponent to dethrone her. Absent a major political earthquake, one of the challengers will be eliminated on October 10. Conservatives in West Greensboro are unlikely to support Moffett if Brown is eliminated and could sit out the mayor's race like they did in '13 and '15. Meanwhile, blacks in East Greensboro are just as unlikely to support Brown if Moffett is eliminated and could either skip the mayoral selection or very reluctantly support Vaughan.
As a result, I am encouraging the creative community to skip this race in the primary and the primary only.
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