Filing begins today at noon and closes in exactly two weeks. Races include Chapel Hill-Carrboro Board of Education, Mebane Mayor and City Council, Hillsborough Mayor and Town Board, Carrboro Mayor and Board of Alderpeople, and Chapel Hill Mayor and Town Council.
There has already been a lot of discussion about candidates, and I think this will be a particularly interesting year. We'll have an opportunity to meet many of the candidates in person at The OP Posse's third annual Candidate Coming Out Party.
Please use this open thread to post updates as you learn about new candidates. We'll be watching candidate filings here on the Orange County Board of Elections web page.
(Check out all the links to each government in this post and you can see quite a wide range of ideas about how government can work online.)
Issues:
Comments
And we have some candidates!
Here's who filed today:
Thanks
Always nice to have someone willing to de-PDF what should be a simple list!
No kidding
It took way more effort than it should have done, actually.
candidates
Great to see so many candidates on opening day. Good luck everyone. Can't wait for the forum season.
Jacquelyn Gist Excited that
Jacquelyn GistExcited that Randee and Lydia filed today. Mark's shoes will be hard to fill but Lydia will bring her own special talents and thoughtfullness
The crowd grows larger
Ed Harrison has filed (in Durham County) for re-election to what, if successful, will be his fourth term on the Chapel Hill Town Council. Paul Neebe, who applied for the council vacancy earlier in the year, has also filed. I can't help but note that at this point, there are no candidates in the Chapel Hill Town Council race who are under the age of 50 (the median age of the council candidates at this point is 57, compared to a median age of Chapel Hill residents at 25.6).Sammy Slade has filed for re-election to a second term in Carrboro, and Michelle Brownstein has filed for re-election to a second term on the Chapel Hill - Carrboro School Board. Tim Bradley and Ed Hooks have filed for re-election in Mebane, which I know very little about but are both incumbents.
for the record
If we're going to talk about ages, I am 2 weeks older than Mayor Kleinschmidt. It says we're the same on the form, but he was the end of March 1970, I was in the middle.
and...
And, for the record, you're both significantly younger than any current council candidate.That said, I expect that this year I'll be supporting multiple candidates out of those who have already filed, age be damned. No one can help their own demographic characteristics. But a little more diversity in the field than we have right now would be nice, and not just in regards to age.
Skewing the Age Curve
I'm afraid I'm not going to be of much help in bringing the median age of Town Council candidates down. I'll be filing as a candidate for Town Council this week. I may or may not win the honor of being the oldest candidate but I'm probably the only one who regularly rides a motorcycle.
Good luck
Hopefully I won't be take for too much of a age-hypocrite if I say that I'm glad you're running!
Maybe the question you
Maybe the question you should ask is what can a candidate who is seeking a 4th or 7th term (like Ms. Gist of Carrboro) can bring to the table that is a fresh/new outlook on the problems facing the town and how will they approach the issues with other local governments?
Second week of filing brings more candidates
Here's the updated list. One more week of filing. Celebrate and meet them at the OP Candidate Coming Out Party on Friday the 19th!
It's Friday the 19th right?
Typo in the above invite.
Corrected.
Ooops, yes. I'll correct it above. Thanks.
Hintz filed.
I filed today for Chapel Hill Town Council.Loren Hintz