Thanks to a flurry of filings in — literally — the 11th hour this week, there are now three candidates for Kinston mayor and eight for the two Kinston City Council seats.
Only a week ago, we were wondering if there were going to be enough folks filing to even fill the ballot for city council. However, thanks to seven candidates joining incumbent Robbie Swinson for the council and B.J. Murphy’s surprising decision to run for re-election against Ralph Clark and John Marks for mayor, we’ll have spirited contests in Kinston’s first nonpartisan municipal races.
Before we take a quick look at those races, a reminder: The Free Press will be holding candidate forums, not just for those contests, but for many others throughout Lenoir, Greene and Jones counties. We’re also going to tape podcasts with candidates in all the races in our coverage areas before the November election.
So, on to some early observations. As always, these prognostications should not be taken as endorsements — they are just some early thoughts about what is shaping up to be a heck of a fun election season.
KINSTON MAYOR’S RACE: Murphy’s re-entry — remember, he announced earlier this year he wasn’t running for re-election — turns an almost certain Clark victory into a true race. The previous statement is made with absolutely no disrespect to Marks, but conventional wisdom dictated that Clark — who had garnered support from both sides of the local political spectrum before Murphy’s announcement — would cruise to the victory against Marks, a relative political neophyte who had previously lost three times in city council races.
Murphy is supremely confident he will win re-election after becoming the city’s first Republican mayor since Reconstruction — and it’s easy to see the source of his confidence. After a “perfect storm” victory in 2009 over two established candidates in Earl Harper and Jimmy Cousins, the personable Murphy has built strong consensus from Democrats and Republicans in his first term as mayor.
He has shown several times he will shed the GOP label and do what’s best for Kinston, regardless of what some local Republicans think might be quasi-blasphemous actions.
But it’s not going to an easy race against Clark, who — as mentioned earlier — has built a strong base of support from the city’s movers and shakers. The former Kinston City Manager didn’t jump into this mayoral race on a whim; he did his homework, talking to many potential opponents (including, ironically, Murphy) to defuse any political problems and opposition. It’s certain Clark didn’t think Murphy would run for re-election, but since he has, we’ll get to see a spirited race.
The wild card here is Marks. It’s almost certain that — just like in 2009 — local Democrats will be split between Clark and Marks, with virtually the entire GOP base supporting Murphy. Even if Clark garners 70 percent of the local Democratic vote (a fair guess, I think), with Murphy and Marks getting the remaining 30, that skews the race again towards Murphy. If this was just Clark vs. Murphy, I think Clark would stand a strong chance of victory; with Marks in the race, I can see Murphy coming away with another win.
KINSTON CITY COUNCIL RACE: Now, THIS is where it gets really fun.
With eight candidates vying for two seats, anything can happen. However, I’m pretty confident that Swinson, who is going for his third term on the council, will be the top vote-getter when Nov. 5 rolls around. That’s the easy prediction; Swinson is well-liked in all parts of Kinston, has done a solid job in his first two terms and has the all-important name recognition factor in his corner. If he doesn’t earn the most votes in November, I’ll be shocked.
However, Swinson is facing some strong opposition, including from another 11th-hour filer who reversed course: John Nix. The local businessman — who lost in his first run for council in 2011 — is best known for being one of the primary forces that brought nonpartisan voting to Kinston. However, like Murphy in the mayor’s race, he announced publicly last month he wasn’t running for city council.
Nonetheless, like Murphy in the mayor’s race, Nix did a 180 on Friday and announced his bid for city council.
Swinson and Nix are joined by six other candidates — Teddra Hussey-Smith, Marc McKnight, Adrien Meadows, Lennie Peterson, Carol Tokarski and Wynn Whittington. Of that sextet, Whittington (a former Kinston High School principal) and Peterson (a former candidate for city council) have the most local name recognition. Of course, that can change a lot between now and November.
Regardless of who wins and loses at the ballot box in November, I hope you join me in thanking these 11 citizens — along with the other candidates in La Grange, Pink Hill, Greene County and Jones County — who care enough about their communities to try to make a difference. They’re not sitting around on their backsides waiting for things to happen; they’re working to try to improve the cities, towns and communities in which they live.
You have earned our respect and admiration.
Bryan C. Hanks is the editor of The Free Press; his column appears in this space every Sunday. You can reach him at 252-559-1074 or at Bryan.Hanks@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @BCHanks.