Election 2023 Postmortem

A News Deficit

As I previously referenced, the lack of reporting has basically turned High Point into an information desert. Triad City Beat comes to the closest as it put out voter guide during the primary, but it didn't follow up for the general election--it didn't help that a number of candidates refused to cooperate for the questionnaire (I actually had to use one of the very organizations that I ripped for propping up a bland candidate running for a seat on the Greensboro City Council as a guide on who to endorse earlier this month). Yes! Weekly has all but abandoned the city. The Rhino went online-only in '19 and only chips in when there's drama between the city and the county (just like in 2017 when the City Council told the Guilford County Commissioners that it would go it alone on Truist Point after the latter refused to fund the ballpark). The News & Record can't even cover the ACC Tournament so forget about that publication covering its neighboring city so John Hammer can stop calling the daily The Eleven County Area News & Record now.

Reading Showroom City by John Joe Schlichtman and That Red-Headed Stepchild by Donald Mackinnon have provided me a much greater understanding of downtown's decline and city politics respectively. 

The lack of independent groups here makes it much more difficult to provide an accurate assessment of what's really happening with those of us who aren't part of the (old money) Emerywood crowd, the furniture showroom owners or the new money crowd of Far North High Point especially now that the People's Party of North Carolina has apparently become a stillborn organization.

The Results

Jefferson beating Jones comfortably was a bit surprising even for me even though he was the easiest choice for me. As far as the man he's replacing, it turns out that Jay Wagner is running for Kathy Manning's congressional seat so not a noble gesture (stepping down after two terms, that is) by the lame duck mayor after all. Wagner's national aspirations explain why he was the only one on the outgoing City Council to dig in on his opposition on all things One High Point Commission even as Jones and Moore changed their tune.

Cook leapfrogged Moore for the first at-large seat and she was the only one worth casting a vote for since Moore and Carr are both Republicans, and as for Davis, his affiliation as a Democrat helped him to advance to this round over the unaffiliated Orel Henry but as I correctly predicted, he's now 0-5 in five straight elections.

Ward Seats: McKiver swamped the historian in Ward 1. Johnson won overwhelmingly in Ward 2 as opposed to the at-large race four years ago. Peters rolled through in Ward 3 to the surprise of no one. I literally went back and forth on who to vote for in Ward 4 before going with the challenger who fell short. In Ward 5, the anti-critical race theory Black guy (Tim Andrew) comfortably won the vacant seat. Any fears of disaffected conservatives in Ward 6 using Holmes to get rid of Jason Ewing in 2019 only to dump him for Heather Brooks this time around turned out to be unfounded as Holmes beat Brooks by a 3-2 margin.

Fallout

The new City Council makeup is going to be interesting to say the least. For the first time ever, Blacks hold a majority whereas four decades ago there were no Black members on the council under the 0-8-1 system that was disguised as 4-4-1 during a six-year stretch. In terms of Black interests, it'd be appropriate to say that Andrew is akin to former councilman Lawrence Graves--who served a single term from '79 to '81--but much more conservative: He's less in touch with Black interests. Instead, Cook would have to be substituted in place of Andrew.

In That Red-Headed Stepchild, Mackinnon feared a whitelash this time around would upend the 2019 results in the at-large and Ward 6 races after monied interests took their eyes off the ball that year and would roar back with a vengeance, but it seems that did not happen. And while it's worth noting that Johnson traded the second at-large seat for an easy win in Ward 2, Cook has shown herself to be a white ally.

Mackinnon recommended that 6-2-1 be dumped in favor of an all-ward system and that there be an independent redistricting commission via a new ordinance or city charter so that the gains from the '19 election wouldn't stand a chance of being reversed. While I share the author's sentiments, I also realize that this city is a very reactive one that is usually one of the last ones to do the right thing, so it probably would be that worst-case scenario Mackinnon brought up for any substantive change to happen--and probably after the 2030 census.