Greensboro Mayor

Incumbent: Nancy Vaughan

Challengers: Justin Outling, Eric Robert, Mark Timothy Cummings 

While enough can be said to not support Vaughan for reelection as mayor, here's also the case against Outling getting a promotion. (alternate thread here).

The political clans are out in full force here. Outling, for instance, is backed by the Marty Kotis and Jim Melvin factions. Not to mention, they all hate Robert since he called them out in the past.

The only good thing about Vaughan reneging on her 2017 campaign pledge not to run again is that she froze out the biggest opponent of any kind of police overhaul on the City Council. Let's face it, if Marikay Abuzuaiter had run for mayor against Outling in an open contest and had there not been any Census delays, many East Greensboro residents would have begrudgingly supported the latter simply to stop the "fund the police" candidate. 

As bad as the two members of the City Council are on policing, the outsiders are only slightly better on the issue as these two tweets from a People's Freedom Assembly member attest (i.e. Cummings and Robert are more incrementalistic). 

Given the lack of advocates supporting a radical overhaul of the GPD, it goes back to who would be better for the creative community's issues, and on that front alone, Robert gets the nod over Cummings.

Greensboro At-Large

Incumbents: Yvonne Johnson, Marikay Abuzuaiter

Seat Holder: Hugh Holston

Challengers: Linda Wilson, Katie Rossabi, Tracy Furman, Taffy L. Buchanan, Franca Jalloh, Dustin Keene, Melodi Fentress

Johnson has been the top vote-getter for a while. Abuzuaiter is only in this race because Nancy Vaughan broke her promise to not run for mayor after the 2017 election, and she is the Blue Lives Matter candidate despite being a Democrat. 

Holston replaced Michelle Kennedy, and based on his credentials, he is a surefire insider. Holston not only became the fourth consecutive fill-in to run for a full term but he was selected by the rest of the City Council precisely for that reason. Given his lack of name recognition though, he could be on the outside looking in come May 18.

Rossabi is giving Marikay a run for her money in terms of who "backs the blue" the most--and she's also the Karen Candidate--claiming that Marcus Smith was "treated humanely" and, for the lack of a better term, even caused his own death. Her ties to the police (alongside her husband) make her even more dangerous than Abuzuaiter. Plus, she's an overall killjoy who would be a major obstacle for creatives.

Buchanan is a business owner but her Facebook page didn't show any political activity when I visited it last week.

On paper, Fentress should be a shoo-in for this blog's endorsement given her direct ties to the creative community (Note: I was a frequent attendee of 2 Art Chicks, a gallery that Fentress co-owned, when events were held there from 2005 to 2007), but her "fund the police" plank--not to mention, it's the very first thing on her website--is a major deal-killer two years after the biggest uprisings in decades (the perfect analogy would be the Lakers going from championship favorites to failing to make the play-in tournament this season).

Keene is another candidate who's directly involved in the arts scene. On policing, he's a reformist, which is good enough for this cycle. Jalloh and Wilson get the other two spots over Fentress and Furman because their positions are the best among all of the challengers.

Greensboro District 5

Incumbent: Tammi Thurm

Challengers: Tony Wilkins, Robert Bodenhamer

Thurm had this blog's support in 2017 because she campaigned as an outsider and netted a perfect score from Democracy Greensboro. However, she was revealed to be a fraud by George Hartzman shortly after she got elected.

She's an insider who posed as an anti-establishment candidate and her record as a councilwoman shows it despite her fervent support for the failed written consent ordinance for police officers. Another demerit against Thurm is the map below. Her antics towards the Pie-Shaped map shows that she's just as interested in preserving her own interests as the other members of City Council.

Wilkins was the biggest obstacle for creatives when he was on the council from late 2012 to 2017 but he would be number two if he returns because Nancy Hoffmann has become even more insufferable. Wilkins is a strong supporter of the police and has used it to attack his successor. 

Bodenhamer is the outsider in this contest and he can be described as a bit less conservative than Wilkins.

This race will determine one of two things: Either 2017 was a blip due to depressed conservative turnout after John Brown had a disappointing mayoral run, or the demographics have changed to the point that it will become more difficult for a right-wing candidate to get elected in Greensboro. Either way, Thurm has lost this blog's support as we sit this race out.

Greensboro District 3

Candidates: Chip Roth, Zack Matheny, Bill Marshburn

Roth is the husband of former assistant city manager Denise Turner Roth. Both worked for the Obama Adminstration.

Matheny held the seat from 2007 to mid-2015 when he stepped down to run Downtown Greensboro Incorporated.

Marshburn once threatened to assassinate City Council members--including Matheny--over the city annexing his home. His far-right views calls for police to use even more excessive force than what killed Marcus Smith and George Floyd. 

Since this is a contest that contains two establishment shills and a right wing extremist who might as well wear a thin blue line flag, this contest is a hard pass.

Greensboro District 2

Incumbent: Goldie Wells

Challengers: Portia Shipman, LaToya Bernice Gathers, Cecile (CC) Crawford

Wells has been in office too long--this is her second stint--and nothing says that she's out of touch more than her opposition to written consent and another demerit is that she and Hightower are both part of Greensboro's Black Misleadership Class.

Gathers is a rare breed as a progressive Republican running this election cycle, and her policies are similar to the other two challengers.

Shipman correctly called out the city's settlement with the Smith Family for what it really was.

Crawford is a part of a progressive organization and her platform on housing and policing puts her over the top. Any one of the three challengers would be preferable to the incumbent, but CC's the best.

Greensboro District 1

Incumbent: Sharon Hightower

Challengers: Felton Foushee, Timothy Kirkpatrick

Hightower voted against the written consent decree and was largely unreliable on the Marcus Smith issue.

Foushee gets the endorsement by default not only due to Hightower's actions but also because Kirkpatrick doesn't even have a website.

Greensboro Since 2017

The Changed Landscape

The main issues in the five years since the 2017 elections largely upheld the status quo have been the Marcus Smith murder by Greensboro police, the continuing divide between those at the top and everyone else, the opening of the shrine dedicated to the city's one percent (aka the Tanger Center) and the fallout from the pandemic.

Smith was the Gate City's George Floyd, and on February 1, the city settled with his family--likely hoping for the murder and coverup to go away just in time for elections. In the wake of Floyd's murder in Minnesota, there was an attempt to pass a proposal requiring police to get written consent before searching people, cars and property. However, it failed on a 5-4 vote, with the Nancys, the cop-loving Marikay and both East Greensboro representatives killing the measure.

The Lack of Anti-Establishment Cohesion

Five years ago, Democracy Greensboro was formed in the wake of what to do next post-Bernie, and while it fielded candidates in the last elections, Michelle Kennedy (more on the details when I analyze the District 5 race) got into office in the end, and she didn't even finish her term. Ever since those elections, the group disappeared, and there are currently no solid anti-establishment groups to hold the leaders accountable even though there are some on the periphery that could make some noise over the next three years.

A coalition to beat the city's entrenched elites is possible if the following groups band together once the elections are over:

• GSO Revolutionary Socialists
• People's Freedom Assembly
• Working Class & Houseless Organizing Alliance
• Triad Abolition Project
• Incarcerated Outreach Network
• Greensboro DSA
• Greensboro Rising

It's nice to be in the streets, but the politicians can easily ignore groups like Greensboro Rising by giving police less accountability when these groups demand the exact opposite. As far as I can tell, there's been no follow-up or threat to unseat those people in power (as a matter of fact, there's a chance that the two factions that end up on City Council this summer could be between gradually giving police more money and exponentially giving them more money).