Candidates give Durham voters a choice in closely watched City Council ward 3 race

Durham’s Ward 3 City Council race did not appear on the October primary ballot, but residents will see the two candidates’ names in Tuesday’s election.

AJ Williams, 34, and Leonardo Williams, 40, are competing for the ward seat after Pierce Freelon, who was appointed to fill a vacancy last year, chose not to seek election. With just two people running, they automatically proceeded to the general election.

Leonardo Williams taught musical arts and was named Teacher of the Year at Shepard Magnet Middle School in 2007-08 during his second year of teaching for Durham Public Schools. He received the honor from Southern High School in the 2013-14 school year, when he was a district finalist as well.

He is also former chair of the N.C. Foundation for Public School Children and a former executive board member of the Durham Association of Educators. He and his wife own Zweli’s restaurant on Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard.

Durham native AJ Williams is a community organizer, director of incubation and ideation labs for the Southern Vision Alliance, which supports emerging grassroots organizations, and a member of Durham Beyond Policing and other social justice groups. If elected, he would be Durham’s first transgender City Council member.

The candidates have split the city’s key endorsements.

The Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People and the Friends of Durham endorsed Leonardo Williams.

The Durham People’s Alliance PAC and the Durham Association of Educators endorsed AJ Williams.

INDY Week did not endorse either candidate because AJ Williams’ father works for the newspaper.

The News & Observer submitted questionnaires to and spoke with the candidates about issues facing the city.

The N&O: How can Durham better sustain its economic growth?

AJ Williams: “The pandemic has exacerbated our economic issues. But I think that if we can run pilots with existing models to see if they would be willing to convert to a worker cooperative model, where employees can benefit from having an ownership stake in the business, [it] could help reduce the wage gap.

“I would also be interested in increasing city-funded vocational and trade certification [programs] to lower-income residents and offer supportive services to ensure the success and completion of those programs.”

Leonardo Williams: “It doesn’t make any sense to have a city full of small businesses and not a single representative from that industry in elected capacity across our county. We have people that work with small businesses, but we don’t have a working-class, small-business owner.

“We need to establish a robust Small Business Sustainability and Success Program. We also need to expand the Office of Economic and Workforce Development to be reflective of Durham’s small business sector. We also need to establish a venture capital firm in partnership with the Durham Chamber to encourage and support economic creativity and mobility.”

The N&O: How would you address the city’s rising gun violence?

AJ Williams: “What I feel most interested in is making sure we do the most we can to start relying on police less and less. I do think it will take time, but I do feel that is what the current political climate is calling for.

“Criminalized behavior is correlated to poverty. And my work with helping to establish the new Department of Community Safety, along with the city’s $1 million pledge to fund it, is a solution to gun violence.”

Leonardo Williams: “Let me start by saying policing as a culture is very reactionary. We have to invest in proactive solutions, but I believe we have to transition from reactive management of criminal infractions to proactive prevention.

“We are beginning to seek community and data-driven decisions on the allocation of resources and funding for mental health, safety, and violence prevention. We should fund organizations who are currently performing direct engagement to curb crime at a rate that truly reflects the need, and we can establish a legitimate emergency response corps in addition.”

The N&O: How would you go about developing programs for the youth in Durham?

AJ Williams: “We need culturally relevant youth programming that’s accessible to young folks. We need reliable public transportation and public transit that connects young folks to those opportunities.

“I am also working on the Kynship Project (a developing network of community members). We’re living in a time where being disconnected from each other is far more common than not. But I think our elders had a level of being in each other’s business that served as a conduit of keeping us safe, and I think it is something that we need to reinstitute in the larger Durham community.”

Leonardo Williams: “When a teacher can say to their student that ‘there’s a city-wide apprenticeship program (a project being developed with American Underground for students to work with small businesses and startups around Durham) that Leonardo and Friends created for juniors and seniors in high school, you can enroll in this,’ they are not only giving access to their students, but it helps the community overall by supplementing how a child can learn early on how engage with their community.”

This story was originally published October 30, 2021 at 12:47 PM with the headline "Candidates give Durham voters a choice in closely watched City Council ward 3 race."