By james art On a warm July morning, federal Transportation Minister Pete Buttigieg, Gov. Roy Cooper, Durham Mayor Leonardo Williams and U.S. Rep. Valerie Fouchey walked a paved gravel path and visited small businesses along a short stretch of Holloway Street in East Durham.
The star-studded group was celebrating a $12 million grant from the Biden-Harris administration to overhaul sidewalks, crosswalks and bus shelters along the 3.2-mile corridor, the city’s most heavily used bus route.
No one uttered the words “Vote Democrat” and Biden was still the presumptive nominee at the time. But it didn’t seem like a coincidence that Democratic politicians were standing on a blue precinct in a blue town in a blue county — and that the transportation secretary had nothing better to do than show up to announce several miles of bus shelters and pedestrian walkways. The project itself won’t start until 2026.
The grant is part of the Biden-Harris administration’s Restoring America’s Infrastructure with Resilience and Equity (RAISE) program. In fact, the federal government awarded more RAISE grants to Durham than to Detroit, Michigan, Santa Ana, California, and Toledo, Ohio. None of these locations received a visit from the state governor and the federal transportation secretary.
Williams took some credit for the event, noting that he “built relationships with these people, with Biden’s staff, the secretary’s (Buttigieg) staff.” There is a kinship, he said, because several of them, including Buttigieg, are former mayors.
With Democratic strategists eyeing North Carolina as a new and important presidential battleground, Durham could be crucial, said Sophia Chitlik, the party’s Democratic nominee for a safe state Senate seat. The city is “the most critical seat in the most critical state,” Chitlik said, noting that former President Trump’s path to the White House almost required him to win North Carolina.
According to Chitlik, an increase in voter turnout in Durham County from 74 percent in 2020 to 79 percent this year could win the state for Harris. She cited Durham as “the most progressive, most civically engaged city” in North Carolina — a place where achieving that increase is possible.
Holloway Street runs through approximately six precincts, all of which have voted overwhelmingly Democratic in the last four presidential elections. Of those precincts, the closest race in the last two elections was in 2020 in precinct 30-1, where Republicans received 39% of the vote. Durham has since split District 30-1 into Districts 30-3 and 30-4, beginning with the 2024 election.
A large proportion of the residents of the Holloway Street corridor depend on the bus. About 28% of East Durham residents are below the poverty line. In the area which will benefit from the grant, the median household income is around 65% of the figure for Durham as a whole.
Asher Hildebrand, a professor of public policy at Duke University and former chief of staff to U.S. Rep. David Price, emphasized that demographics and needs, not politics, determine where federal infrastructure grants go. But a factor like the historic disparity in federal funding can to be important in the distribution of grants, which probably helped Durham, he said.
Mac McCorkle, a public policy professor at Duke and a former Democratic strategist, said black communities sometimes complain they haven’t seen the support and progress Biden promised. This helps explain why the Holloway Street event had such star power despite being two years from the project’s start date.
Chitlik was pleased with the grant because it benefits an area that sometimes lags behind other parts of the city. “Durham’s growth does not benefit all Durham residents,” she said. Williams called the Holloway Street area “underinvested for so long.”
The political impact of the July announcement is uncertain. Despite the emergence of political leaders and coverage in INDY week and News and Observerbus drivers who cross Holloway Street appear to be largely unaware of the $12 million subsidy.
On a late September day, Mike Brodie, a lifelong Durham resident and daily bus rider, was visibly shocked by the number. Other drivers on buses 3, 3B and 3C wondered how they had not heard about the grant despite traveling on the bus daily.
Some drivers interviewed by The 9th Street Journal liked the idea of better bus benches and shelters and other improvements. Most riders, however, had other ideas about how the money could be better spent: on policing, investments to promote local businesses and reducing the number of residents with drug addictions. One rider even said Go Durham’s current network-wide free fare period, which runs until June 2025, should end.
Brody said the first thing he would do with the $12 million is increase the police presence and rid the area of drug addicts and dealers. He also said the bus terminal in Durham city center should open at 5am, not 6am.
Following those priorities, Brody agreed that Holloway Street needs lighting, sidewalks and road improvements. “I’ve seen this area go down,” he said. Brody still doesn’t know who he’ll vote for in the election, but he’s leaning toward Trump — “He would run this country like a business.”
McCorkle said Durham is now a guaranteed Democratic victory. But for the difference Chitlik, Harris and the rest of the party are seeking, turnout in East Durham matters. “Not the college voters, but the voters around Holloway” will give Democrats the added numbers, McCorkle said.
McCorkle agrees with Chitlik that North Carolina is a “must have” state for Trump. That means Democrats have to work harder here, and so he’s not surprised that a big name like Buttigieg came to Durham for the grant announcement.
In the meantime, Williams said he will continue to be relentless in making sure federal officials see Durham’s needs, election or not.
“I’m right there in their ear.”
Pictured above: A federal grant will improve sidewalks and bus shelters along Holloway Street, which is served by the No. 3 bus. Photo by Ethan Davidovitch — The 9th Street Journal