High Point Municipal Primaries

Mayor

Challengers: Bruce Davis, Jim Davis, Jay Wagner

The city will elect its third new mayor after Becky Smothers was in office for 16 of 20 years on and off from 1992 to 2012.

The contest seems to be between the last two candidates as Jim Davis and Wagner have traded barbs against each other over a range of issues, and the mudslinging did not end at last night's forum either.

At first, I was going to go with Bruce Davis but then, I had reservations as to whether the county commissioner turned CVB head would once again have his eyes set on higher office--after all, he ran unsuccessfully for State Senate twice this decade and for Congress the last two national cycles--once the mess with the General Assembly's drawing of state and congressional lines is finally settled. However, I listened to what he said at the forum and how he laid out everything related to the proposed stadium, and it made more sense than the way the current mayor and various High Point leaders conducted themselves with the county commissioners. As a result, I have switched back from Wagner to Bruce Davis for mayor since Wagner sided with Bill Bencini and Company's rapid fire push to get the stadium built by 2019 which led to the pushback from the county commissioners.

Ward 4

Challengers: Jim Bronnert, Wesley Hudson, Jody Kearns

The three men are running to succeed Wagner. Bronnert lost to Wagner three years ago. Hudson recently ran for office in Winston-Salem before moving to High Point. Kearns's main motivation for running seems to be the fact that he has a grudge against Wagner.

Ward 5

Challengers: Victor Jones, Deric Stubbs, Sr., Chris Whitley

These three are running to replace Jim Davis. Jones was the only one to appear at last evening's forum. I was willing to give Stubbs a chance and still might if he advances but the no-show was not a good look. As for Whitley, I hold him just as accountable for High Point's status as the hungriest city in America as I do former mayor Smothers since both were in and out of City Council throughout the '90s and '00s as the older parts of the city broke down.

At-Large

Incumbent: Cynthia Davis
Challengers: Mary Lou Andrews Blakeney, Daniel Gardner, Michael Holmes, Britt Moore, Sarah Jane Otte, Don Scarbrough

Cynthia Davis is the most conservative of the current council and the only one who voted against the stadium.

Moore wants his seat back after narrowly losing it to Latimer Alexander IV. He joined Wagner in wanting to keep the City Project back in the spring of 2014 but joined what was left of City Council to kill the plan to reduce part of North Main Street from five lanes to two as a part of a street diet right before the election.

Blakeney also wants to return to the council. She won the second seat in a wave election in 2008 only to lose it to Moore in another wave election two years later.

Scarborough was a part of High Point University's rapid growth, which is part gift and part curse. On one hand, the university's growth has acted as a buffer in keeping the older east central part of the city from decaying. On the other hand, the university has helped to perpetuate the balkanization of the city into three distinct fiefdoms--the university area, the newer parts in the extreme northern part of the city and the older parts in the rest of the city. Also, I still bear a grudge over how the school handled the MLK street renaming controversy in early 2015.

While I do agree with Gardner (among others) that the stadium project should have been placed on the ballot as a referendum, most of his ideology doesn't line up with mine.

In the end, I'll go with Holmes and Otte in addition to Blakeney.