Greensboro District Elections

District 1

Sharon Hightower vs Paula Ritter-Lipscomb

I'll stick to my original assessment that Ritter-Lipscomb will be a better fit to turn Southeast Greensboro around than the incumbent.

District 2

Goldie Wells vs Jim Kee vs Thessa Pickett (write-in)

Perhaps East Greensboro residents and black leaders across the nation need to look at themselves the next time they wonder why there's such a dearth of young black leaders who are interested in the political process. The older generation clearly does not want to pass the torch. Irving Allen and Syvine Hill were advancing a new line of thinking in the at-large race while C.J. Brinson promised to do the same in District 2. Instead, Allen was sandwiched between the conservatives for an eighth place finish. Hill, who was deemed by a number of people to be the most qualified candidate, finished at the bottom in the 15-person field and will now be deemed to be a perennial candidate (i.e., unelectable) by the experts. As for Brinson, he missed the chance to call a recount by a measly vote, which exceeded the 1 percentage point requirement.

Sensing the potential of a part of the district being "orphaned," Pickett jumped into the race as a write-in candidate. Her previous political experience was running against Jamal Fox in 2015 and being a part of Black Lives Matter's Greensboro chapter.

The reason why the young demographic risks being abandoned is because the two names on the ballot clearly don't appeal to it. Wells reneged on a pledge to not run for the seat after she was appointed to replace Fox. So, yeah, Ms. Wells is part of that problem of older black leaders unwilling to let the younger generation take a crack at leadership.

Meanwhile, Kee is beholden to developer interests who game the system to get taxpayer money for their projects. Also, to make matters worse, Kee decided to become a Republican on the 18th and was flanked by District 5's Tony Wilkins among others. Joining the party that likes to yell "all lives matter" and echoes the Blue Lives Matter platform is going to lose you votes in a predominately black district. It makes me wonder if Mr. Kee has aspirations for higher office next year.

The only sensible thing to do is to write in Thessa Pickett.

District 3

Justin Outling vs Craig Martin

Another short and sweet message: Consider Craig indeed!

District 4

Nancy Hoffmann vs Gary Kenton

The incumbent is the second biggest impediment to the creative community right behind Wilkins. With Wilkins, it's based on his actions. With Hoffmann, it's based largely on her attitude. In general, Hoffmann and her crowd remind me of Southwest Raleigh residents during my time at NC State. Those residents showed their contempt for NCSU students by convincing local lawmakers to pass an ordinance in mid-2000 that effectively curtailed all off campus parties (when most students were away for the summer) and wanted to restrict the number of roommates a person could have (fortunately, the measure was defeated by a unanimous vote by the Raleigh City Council in early 2003 after students and citizens from other parts of the city spoke up). It's also worth noting that Mrs. Hoffmann was also one of the architects of the dreaded noise ordinance in 2012.

Even if his campaign didn't have any substance, Kenton would have been the no-brainer for the creative community. The fact that he does have a detailed idea of what he would do as a councilman makes this endorsement all the better.

District 5

Tony Wilkins vs Tammi Thurm

The biggest shock of the primaries was that Thurm placed ahead of the incumbent. If she repeats the performance, then the creative community will be all the better for it. The big question now is just how the political clans and conservative organizations will react in the waning weeks of the campaign to the candidate who received the highest ranking from Democracy Greensboro.