By james art Featured Image: A view of downtown Winston-Salem from the roof of the Kaleideum. (Photo by Gail Melcher)
Winston-Salem has two contested city council seats this year.
The races for Mayor, East Region, North Region, North East Region, South Region, South East Region and South West Region are uncontested.
Below are the candidates running in each race, with the incumbents listed first.
Early voting is underway and continues until November 2nd. Election day is November 5. Voters can register to vote during the early voting period and can vote at any open polling place during that time. Find early voting locations here. All voters will need to show a valid photo ID to vote this year.
On election day, voters are required to go to their designated polling station. To find your designated polling place, learn more about voting laws and find your sample ballot, visit nc.gov/living/voting.
Northwest region
Incumbent Jeff McIntosh, D, announced in January 2023 that he will not run for re-election.
Democrat: Regina Ford Hall
reginaforwinston.com
Read her full responses to candidates here.
Regina Ford Hall served in the US House of Representatives from 2009-14; she is now the executive director of the Boston-Thurmond Community Network and previously served as the manager of reintegration and youth development for the city of Winston-Salem, helping to coordinate the Winston-Salem City Food Policy Council. She was also the 12thth Congressional district district liaison to the US House of Representatives. She worked as a program administrator for Successful Outcomes After Release, or SOAR, a city program that temporarily hires ex-offenders and gives them work experience in routine work and clerical jobs.
In office, Hall wants to tackle issues like gun violence, poverty, climate, hunger and food and housing insecurity. Her top three issues are “housing, public safety and small business support,” according to her candidate questionnaire. “I truly believe that social engagement is the secret sauce to starting conversations that foster creative ideas to solve some of our city’s worst problems like poverty, (gun) violence, chronic homelessness and recidivism,” she added.
Hall attended TCB City Hall on the other side of Winston-Salem.
Republican: Jimmy Hodson
hodsonfornc.com
Jimmy Hodson is making another bid for the seat after narrowly losing the GOP nomination to Eric Henderson in 2016. Hodson served in the U.S. Army and has lived in Winston-Salem since 1995. He is currently a product manager at Noregon Systems , a software development company in Greensboro. He has also served on the board of United Family Church for over eight years. Hodson’s top priority is public safety, according to his website, and he is “passionate about promoting economic prosperity.”
West Ward
Republican: Robert S. Clark (i)
There is no website
Robert Clark has been in office since 2001 and is chairman of the city council’s finance committee. He served as an outside director for Triad Business Bank and is president and owner of Burlington-based Leesona Industries. The city does a “good job for the most part” in providing services, Clark said in the candidate questionnaire he filled out for TCBbut believes it can do a better job of maintaining its roads. The problem of homelessness is “a complex one that requires coordination among many stakeholders, including the city,” he said. “The discussion on this topic is long and complicated, but I would add that this is an area where I treat myself as a human[al] interest in and support of community-wide coping efforts.”
Democrat: Chris Smith
bio.site/VoteChrisSmith
Read his full responses to candidates here.
A small business owner, Winston-Salem native and Army veteran, Chris Smith is running for county commission for the first time in 2020. After the race, he and several volunteers launched the Nondiscrimination Ordinance Coalition, a community advocacy organization that aimed to expand non-discrimination protections in Winston-Salem, ultimately helping pass an expanded version of the city’s non-discrimination ordinance. He believes the first three issues facing the city are affordable
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