Durham primary results reflect gun violence concerns, says City Council incumbent

Voters by wide margins Tuesday night made it clear who they want to see make the changes they feel the Bull City needs.

In the race for mayor, Elaine O’Neal, a former judge and interim dean of the N.C. Central University Law School, received 13,586 votes. City Council member Javiera Caballero finished second, with 4,925 votes.

“I am humbled by the support of my community, and once again, they show me that I am a daughter of Durham,” O’Neal said Tuesday night.

O’Neal and Caballero, who were among seven mayoral candidates in the nonpartisan primary, will now face each other in the Nov 2 general election. Mayor Steve Schewel decided not to seek a third term.

The final but unofficial results showed about 10% of registered voters cast ballots, according to the state Board of Elections website. The top two finishers in each race now move on to November.

“These primaries help serve as a filtering system,” said Antonio Jones, chair of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, which endorsed O’Neal.

“The fields can become crowded for certain races,” Jones said, “but in terms of civic engagement increasing voter turnout has always been a struggle in non-presidential year election.”

“But for this particular election, Durham spoke,” he said.

The city’s gun violence problem may have been an issue for primary voters, who strongly backed O’Neal and two City Council incumbents who have supported hiring more police officers in recent years.

Incumbents DeDreana Freeman and Mark-Anthony Middleton finished far ahead in their bids to keep their Wards 1 and 2 council seats, respectively.

Voter Turnout

About 1 in 10 registered voters cast ballots in the nonpartisan primary. In 2017, turnout was 13.47%. In 2019, turnout was 8.96%.

Stephen Gheen, the former chairman of the Durham County Democratic Party, says low participation may reflect voters’ dissatisfaction with national politics.

“There seems to be a growing intensity about the political process and people are getting turned off by politics on the national level and that is trickling down to the local level,” he said.

“People either get mad and don’t vote, or are bothered enough to vote,” Gheen added. “In this case, those that voted in the primary election care the most.”

He thinks turnout will increase for the November election.

Campaign fundraising

In the mayor’s race, O’Neal has raised the most money, $40,815, and spent $12,260.32, according to pre-primary campaign finance reports filed last week.

Caballero had raised $34,058.75 and spent $4,891.39, her report shows. She also

But money may not have been a factor in Ward 1, where challenger Marion T. Johnson raised more than any other council candidate, $54,610.76, and also spent the most money, $38,833.09.

Johnson, who along with Caballero was backed by the progressive Durham People’s Alliance PAC, received 5,189 votes to finish second to Freeman, who received 13,468 votes. The two women will now face off in November.

Freeman, who was endorsed by the Durham Committee, raised $29,627.52 and spent $19,405.24, according to her report.

On Wednesday, she credited her large margin of victory to her stance on wanting more police in Durham, she said.

“I have a feeling that people voted the way that they did because of the violence that we have been seeing for the past three months,” Freeman said.

Middleton, who in addition to supporting more police has advocated for gunshot detection technology, said he was confident going into the primary. He finished with 16,255 votes, far ahead of Sylvester Williams with 1,718 votes.

“Durham remains a highly desirable city, and I think I have a pretty compelling case to make to the people for four more years,” he said Tuesday night.

There was no primary in Ward 3, where the only two candidates running, Leonardo Williams and AJ Williams, will automatically proceed to election day in November. They are seeking the seat currently held by Pierce Freelon, who is not running for election.

The voter registration deadline for the Nov. 2 election is 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 8. Requests to vote by mail must be received by 5 p.m. Oct. 26.

One-stop early voting in the general election will run from Thursday, Oct. 14, to Saturday, Oct. 30.

Primary vote totals

MAYOR

▪ Elaine O’Neal, 67.96%

▪ Javiera Caballero, 24.63%

▪ Jahnmaud Lane, 2.95%

▪ Rebecca Harvard Barnes, 1.73%

▪ Sabrina “Bree” Davis, 1.13%

▪ Daryl Quick, 1.06%

▪ Charlitta Burruss, 0.55%

WARD 1

▪ DeDreana Freeman, 69.61%

▪ Marion T. Johnson, 26.82%

▪ Elizabeth Takla, 2.07%

▪ Waldo Fenner, 1.49%

WARD 2

▪ Mark-Anthony Middleton, 85.91%

▪ Sylvester Williams, 9.08%

▪ Robert Curtis Jr, 5.01%

This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 4:28 PM with the headline "Durham primary results reflect gun violence concerns, says City Council incumbent."