This story originally published online at NC Newsline.

Dozens of children, some dressed as angels, shepherds, and farm animals, stood flanked by twinkling blue and white lights as they sang Ukrainian Christmas carols at a Raleigh church recently.

Nearly four years ago, many of the children on stage were forced to flee their homes as Russian forces swept into Ukraine and drone strikes turned their neighborhoods to rubble. For some, it was their first opportunity to share in the cultural tradition of Vertep with other Ukrainian families since leaving home.

Held on Saint Nicholas Day, Dec. 6, Vertep marks the start of weeks of yuletide celebration in Ukraine. The performance is what Ukraine House founder Iryna Borodina describes as a “Ukrainian interpretation” of the nativity play, full of traditional folk songs and characters unique to the country. It’s the first time her organization has held the performance for Raleigh families.

Formed in the wake of the invasion, Ukraine House provides a Saturday school at Ridge Road Baptist Church in Raleigh where around 30 children learn Ukrainian art, history and language skills as well as activities like choir, guitar lessons, and ballet.

Parents say it is a crucial connection to the home their children were forced to leave behind. Some had lost much of their ability to read, write, and speak Ukrainian, more accustomed to English in day-to-day life. Others left at such an early age they never learned those skills in the first place.

“We left when [my daughter] was eight years old, so it was like second grade, and now she speaks English very well, more than Ukrainian,” said Yuliia Sytnyk, an art curator from Kherson who teaches at the Saturday school. “For kids, it seems like they get used to everything so fast, but of course it’s hard, all these changes.”

‘Each Person Tries to Give Something’

When Iryna Yermolaieva fled the war in Ukraine with her family, her oldest daughter had not yet started grade school. She did not know how to read and write in Ukrainian.

Traveling from place to place in Europe searching for refuge, there was no opportunity for her daughter to attend a Ukrainian school. It was only after coming to Raleigh that her child finally got the opportunity to become literate in her family’s language.

“We started attending classes in Ukrainian school, and in just a few months, she started reading Ukrainian,” Yermolaieva said. “She writes better than even me and my husband. Her handwriting is so perfect.”

Halyna Seredyuk, a longtime Ukrainian educator in the U.S. and overseas, was a big part of that journey. She has taught for 40 years, first as a high school teacher in Ukraine and then through Ukrainian Saturday schools abroad, including in Sweden and for roughly 20 years in Atlanta.

Seredyuk creates her own lesson plans, weaving in traditional Ukrainian proverbs such as Bdzhola mala, a y ta pratsyuye (“The bee is small, but it works too”). She brings back a big bag of handmade notebooks for the children every time she returns from a trip to Ukraine.

“They are reading, they are writing, they are talking,” Seredyuk said.

Though Yermolaieva’s daughter came to the school two months after classes began, Seredyuk worked one-on-one with her to get her up to speed. “She helped us so much,” Yermolaieva said.

Now, Yermolaieva volunteers her own time as a substitute teacher as many of the other parents do.“Each person tries to give something,” she said.

Yermolaieva said her daughters have made fast friends at the school. Her youngest, turning five years old this month, invited all of her classmates from the Ukrainian school to her birthday party.

“She just started [learning the] alphabet, a little bit of reading, art,” she said. “I hope everything will work out like with my oldest.”

At its core, she said, the school has provided an opportunity for her kids to experience their culture that she will be forever grateful for.

“I hope that this school will stay here for a long, long, long time and will help a lot of Ukrainian kids to know better their culture, language and history,” Yermolaieva said.

‘We Need to Build a New Life’

Sytnyk, the former curator who teaches art at the school, feels she has no home to return to. “I don’t miss my home because I know that around, everything is destroyed,” she said.

Kherson’s population has fallen from nearly 300,000 to roughly one-fifth of that, with much of the city laid to waste under Russian occupation. Even two years after its liberation by Ukrainian troops, the city faces hundreds of drone attacks every week.

“Nothing exists right now, and we cannot come back [to] our life,” Sytnyk said. “That’s why we need to build a new life, and how it will be, it’s only God knows.”

Since coming to the U.S., Sytnyk has worked to keep the arts of Ukraine alive through visual and musical exhibits and hands-on workshops with institutions like UNC-Chapel Hill, Carnegie Hall, and Yale.

One project she’s proudest of is a virtual tour of the vibrant home of Kherson artist Polina Raiko, its interior blanketed with painted representations of the artist’s grief. The home, a national cultural monument, was destroyed by floodwaters in 2023, after Russian soldiers destroyed a nearby dam.

She learned about the Saturday school program through Ukrainians in the Carolinas, a nonprofit that sprang up during the war to support the more than 2,000 refugees who have come to the state from Ukraine. As a teacher, she has brought her cultural expertise to the classroom.

Like Seredyuk, she has developed her own lesson plans for the classes at Ukraine House with the goal of connecting the children with their home country through its art. She also teaches a class for adults, open to Ukrainians as well as Americans who wish to better understand the country and its culture.

For a workshop on Petrykivka painting, a distinct floral pattern of painting originating from a village in Ukraine, she said some Ukrainian attendees came from as far as Wilmington.

“They said, ‘We don’t have anything about Ukraine, no events, nothing that we want to share with our kids,’” Sytnyk said.

“The parents want their kids to know about Ukraine and know their history, their culture, and it’s really important,” Sytnyk said. “Some people understood it only here when they’re so far from Ukraine.”

‘I Live for Two Countries’

Under Borodina’s watch, the Ukrainian school has grown from a single weekly language class in 2022 to a full-fledged Saturday school, with four classes a day for everyone from preschoolers to fifth and sixth graders.

Borodina sees her work not as building an enclave for Ukrainians in the Triangle, but as creating a bridge between two nations.

“This school is a part of our war to save and preserve our culture,” Borodina said. “We do not want to allow our culture to disappear even in the USA, because Russia, for example, in this war declared that we are not existing, and our culture is not existing culture.”

In her view, the war has forced Ukraine to become a “global nation.” She is in communication with Ukrainian schools from all around the world, from North Carolina to Germany, aimed at raising a generation of children fluent in the cultures of their native and adopted countries — future ambassadors in a world where Ukraine must work alongside countries across the globe to defend itself and rebuild.

“Right now, I live for two countries,” she said. “This is my mission.”

But she’s troubled by a year of sometimes hostile rhetoric by President Donald Trump toward Ukraine’s government and deep uncertainty over the future immigration status of Ukrainian refugees in the U.S.

Unlike some families who belong to Ukraine House, Borodina does not wish for her children to remain in the United States indefinitely.

“I would like my children to come back to Ukraine,” she said. “Actually, I would like other American children to come back to Ukraine, because they are our heritage.”

She said she had plans to found a secondary school for Ukrainians that could serve a similar purpose in North Carolina, but abandoned those plans after Trump made it clear he would take a hardline stance on refugees.

But the school she leads and the welcoming community within it will persist, she says.

“I believe this Saturday school will live even without me,” Borodina said. “We [Ukrainians] used to help each other ourselves, always, and this is our history.”

Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com.

The Orange County Board of County Commissioners and the Orange County Schools Board of Education will each see at least one new member elected this year. 

Three seats are up for grabs on the Orange County Commission. The commission’s seven members are elected in a district system. This year, voters will make selections for District 1 (the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area), District 2 (the more rural northern area), and at-large. Four seats are up for reelection on the school board.

All four school board seats, as well as one seat on the county commission will be decided by the March 3 election. All eligible voters in Orange County can cast ballots for any of the county commission seats and residents of the Orange County school district can make their picks for school board members. 

You can check which races you can vote in through the state’s voter search.

Board of County Commissioners

The county commission sets the county-wide tax rate and oversees services. The board also has the duty of funding the county’s two public school districts. In recent budgets (as in debates going back to at least the early 2000’s), commissioners have grappled over the equity implications of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro special tax for schools, which the county commission is responsible for levying. In the 2025-26 budget, commissioners declined to raise that tax as high as the school board requested due to a property revaluation that left many residents paying significantly higher taxes already.

In the coming years, the commission will continue to deal with the impact of inflation, a general assembly with little interest in funding public schools, and the constant question—is it worth raising taxes, which will impact the county’s poorest residents, in order to pay for public school services that also serve the county’s poorest residents?

At-Large (Democratic Primary)

With two-term commissioner Sally Greene declining to seek reelection, her at-large seat will be up for grabs.

Democrat Karen Stegman announced her intention to run even before filing opened. Stegman was elected to two terms on the Chapel Hill Town Council, though she left the last few months of her second term vacant when she moved to Carrboro this summer. Stegman is campaigning on her town council successes, including strides in increasing affordable housing, strengthening transit systems, and mitigating the impacts of climate change. With solid name recognition in the vote-rich center of Chapel Hill, Stegman is a clear frontrunner to succeed Greene. 

Democrat Adam Beeman is the owner of an electrical contracting business, and has served on the county’s planning board and board of adjustments. He ran two years ago for the District 2 seat currently held by Phyllis Portie-Ascott, coming in third place behind Portie-Ascott and Horace Johnson Jr. On his website, Beeman describes working towards the construction of a new vocational high school in Orange County to ensure that “every student has a real path to a good career.” Beeman, who lives in the northern part of the county, also makes a case for converting one of the commission’s District 1 (Chapel Hill-Carrboro area) seats into an at-large seat in order to better represent all of Orange County rather than favoring the population-heavy core. 

Jeffrey Hoagland is a perennial Republican candidate who recently ran unsuccessfully for N.C. House and Chapel Hill Town Council. In his 2024 bid for the house seat, he described plans to convert the UNC coal plant to a nuclear plant and committed to not accepting money for his campaign. He did not appear to have a website and will face the winner of the Democratic primary in the general election.

District 1 (Democratic primary)

Jamezetta Bedford is running for a third term on the board. Bedford is an accountant who previously served on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board. In a press release, she pointed to the successful passage of the $300 million education bond, which the commission put before voters in 2024. She also described pushing the county to adopt a climate action plan and is hoping to build a behavior health diversion facility. As the chair of the board during the most recent budget cycle, Bedford oversaw a difficult process as the commission increased taxes but still fell slightly short of the stated continuation needs of the county’s two K-12 public school districts. Bedford has also urged the CHCCS board to look at closing an elementary school to save money due to falling enrollment 

Maria Palmer is an advocate, educator, faith leader, and former Chapel Hill town council member. On her website, she writes that “I am running for County Commissioner because Orange County is facing tremendous challenges caused by raising costs, elimination of State and Federal support for needed projects, and threats to our future sustainability and quality of life.” She has previously received the NAACP’s Trailblazer award. Her son currently serves on the Carrboro town council.

With no Republican candidate in the race, the March primary for District 1 will decide the seat.

District 2 (Democratic Primary)

Earl McKee is a retired farmer who has served on the commission since 2010. In the most recent budget process, McKee was one of two commissioners who voted against raising the CHCCS special tax. “In one respect, I commend the folks in Chapel Hill for doing the tax,” he said in June. “But I cannot support it because it does create an inequitable situation between the funding of the two systems in Orange County.” In a recent statement on Facebook, McKee said that his next term would focus on “completion of the broadband project with fiber running past every property possible, continued support for increased proficiency of all students in our dual school systems, and support for our great emergency services and law enforcement personnel.”

Beth Bronson is the current vice chair of the board of adjustment and at-large representative on the planning board. She did not appear to have a campaign website as of publishing.

Republican candidate Louis Capitanio will face off with the winner of the Democratic primary in November. He did not appear to have a campaign website as of publishing.

Orange County School Board 

For the school board, which oversees the county’s more rural k-12 school district, all candidates are pooled together, and voters can make four picks for four seats. The election in March is not a primary; it will decide who wins seats on the board. Incumbents Anne Purcell, Will Atherton, and Sarah Smylie are defending their seats. Andre Richmond is not seeking a second term, leaving an opening for a new face on the board.

Purcell is a retired school administrator who spent much of her career in Orange County Schools. She was first elected in 2022 with the backing of the moderate-to-conservative Friends of Orange County Schools PAC. She does not appear to have a website yet.

Atherton is the current board chair and is seeking a third term. In his 2022 campaign, he emphasized improving student achievement and improving teacher retention. He did not appear to have a 2026 campaign site as of publishing. 

Smylie is seeking her third term on the board. Smylie is a former public school teacher who, in the board’s previous iterations, consistently worked to pass some of the most progressive school policies in the state. In her 2022 election, she pitched herself as someone to help make sure that OCS is a place where “every single student feels a sense of belonging and graduates [are] prepared to succeed in life.”

Brian Edwards is a former detention officer who is highlighting mental health support in his bid for the board. Edwards,per reporting by WCHL, was recently fired from the sheriff’s department due to Twitter posts about having right wing “traitors” thrown in prison. “It may even be time to bring back the guillotine,” he apparently wrote in now-deleted posts. On his campaign Facebook page, he also discusses the need for a “Teacher’s Bill of Rights” to ensure that educators receive proper respect and pay.

Lori Russell is running for a first term on a platform of ethical governance. She practiced as a lawyer “working at the intersection of ethics, accountability, and social responsibility,” per her Facebook announcement. She wrote that she would focus on “thoughtful, ethical governance: actively listening to diverse communities across the county; grounding decisions in both data and experience; communicating clearly and transparently; and holding ourselves accountable for outcomes, not just intentions.”

Saru Salvi is a retired member of the county board of equalization and review. As of the time of publishing, Salvi did not appear to have a website.

Early voting ahead of the March 3 primary begins February 12.

Dozens of elected seats in the Triangle are up for reelection in 2026, from local school boards and county commissions, to state legislative and congressional seats.

While many local representatives are unopposed in their bids for reelection, some races will first go through a partisan primary or runoff in March to determine which candidates will advance to the general election in November.

Early voting ahead of the March 3 primary begins on February 12.

You can find out which districts you’re eligible to vote in through the state’s voter search. Voters registered with a particular party can only vote in that party’s primary, while unaffiliated voters can choose any party’s ballot.

Here’s a look at all the candidates who filed for office this month, and which races will appear on ballots in March.

Congress

State Legislature

N.C. Supreme Court and Court of Appeals

Wake County District Attorney, Sheriff, Clerk of Court and Judges

Wake County Board of County Commissioners

Raleigh Mayor and City Council

Durham County District Attorney, Sheriff, Clerk of Court and Judges

Durham Public Schools Board of Education

Orange County District Attorney, Sheriff, Clerk of Court and Register of Deeds

Orange County Board of County Commissioners and Board of Education

As the academic year wound down last spring and UNC-Chapel Hill planned its next major fundraising campaign, the university’s deans participated in a series of internal presentations to “pressure test” their messages to potential donors.

After the School of Information and Library Science’s (SILS) presentation, led in late April by then-Dean Jeffrey Bardzell, most attendees said the school’s vision was compelling.

“​​Many volunteers appreciated the school’s commitment to organizing and applying information in ways that promote wisdom, ethical decision-making, and social good—framing SILS as a vital bridge between technical systems and human needs,” read a summary of the feedback that the university’s fundraising staff sent to Bardzell after the event. The Assembly obtained the report, which was generated by ChatGPT, through a public records request.

But there was another theme: Confusion about the overlap between SILS and the School of Data Science and Society (SDSS), which launched in 2022, as well as the computer science and statistics departments.

“Why are you separate schools?” wrote one attendee who was asked to predict questions that donors might have. Another wanted to know more about the “broader vision” for data science and artificial intelligence at the university: “How does SILS fit into that picture?”

Others had suggestions: “Collaborate with Data Science and blend your programs to leverage the power of every dollar from every donor,” one volunteer wrote. “Merge with data science on a unified effort,” wrote another.

“There was broad agreement that SILS sits at a pivotal moment, with both the opportunity and responsibility to lead UNC’s AI and information strategy, provided it can sharpen its message, deepen its partnerships, and define a more unifying identity moving forward,” the AI-generated summary concluded.

The discussion foreshadowed a major shift that was about to come.

On October 9, UNC-CH Chancellor Lee Roberts and interim Provost Jim Dean announced SILS and SDSS would become the “founding leaders” of a new, yet-to-be-named school intended to “position the University as a national leader in applied technology, information and data science research and teaching.” (The university did not address a question from The Assembly about whether the campaign presentation influenced the decision.)

Roberts and Dean singled out the “transformational impact” of generative AI as part of the impetus for the merger. And the effort is likely to support one of Roberts’ key goals. Last year, he identified AI and its implications among his top four priorities as chancellor. He said at an Assembly event last month that the technology “will reshape just about everything we do” at the university and in society. Bardzell recently left SILS to be UNC-CH’s chief AI officer, a new position formed after Roberts’ AI working group recommended it last year; SDSS Dean Stan Ahalt will lead the combined school.

But much of the plan for the new school remains unclear—notably including how, and to what extent, it will focus on AI. 

When the SILS student association surveyed students about the merger shortly after the announcement, AI was among the top concerns, said Abigail Allred, a second-year master’s student and president of the group. On their minds, Allred said, were questions like: “What if I ethically object to the usage of AI?” “What does that mean for how I’m going through this school?” and “What does it mean for the professors who do not want to engage with AI?” 

Campus leaders have said the school is not intended to shut down existing programs, nor is it a cost-cutting measure (though they acknowledge some “administrative savings” might be identified). Leaders from the existing schools were recently tapped to serve on a task force that will guide the process, with additional working groups tackling key issues like faculty governance, operations, communications, and identity for the new school. 

In some ways, the idea to merge the schools isn’t new. It will take a page from a plan the university scrapped in 2020. But this time, the merger is moving full-steam ahead—and they’ll have to act fast. The university says the new school will launch by July 1. 

What’s Old Is New Again

UNC-CH faculty, staff, and administrators have long strategized around various issues related to the ever-growing amount of data and the frameworks used to interpret and manage it. 

Since 2012, various committees have considered, among other issues, how UNC-CH could handle its collection of research data, ensure students were “data literate,” and align its public-service mission with data-intensive studies. 

By early 2020, a committee led by then-SILS Dean Gary Marchionini and Jay Aikat, now an SDSS vice dean, recommended creating a school focused on data science to address those questions and position UNC-CH to “lead the world in using data and information to solve humanity’s greatest challenges.”

The school, the committee proposed, would be interdisciplinary and engage the university’s “preeminent scholars in the social sciences, fine arts and humanities and health sciences across all departments, schools and centers.” But they said it should merge SILS and the departments of computer science and statistics and operations research.

It was an exciting possibility for SILS, which was nearly 90 years old at the time, to be considered an anchor of UNC-CH’s initiative in a discipline that was “all the buzz,” Marchionini told The Assembly. And the conversations were happening in a competitive environment; universities around the country, including some of UNC-CH’s peers, had already propped up programs and schools in data science. 

“It was brewing. It was in the air. It was in the context of the larger world at the time,” Marchionini said. “The fact that there was a really interesting, grand vision, it was tantalizing for all of us.”

Library science, information science, and data science overlap in several ways. SILS describes library science as a discipline to learn how to “collect, organize, store, and retrieve the world’s recorded knowledge”—in or out of libraries—while the school says students in information science will learn how information is created and how to analyze, process, and manage it. Data science, as defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, “uses scientific methods, processes, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from data.”

By the end of 2020, though, the plan to build a merged data science school had failed. When the School of Data Science and Society launched three years ago, it did so as a new and independent entity—something the university hadn’t done in over 70 years. 

Recounting the 2020 process to the university’s Faculty Council last month, Dean, the interim provost, said: “We were fairly far down the road, and at the 11th hour, faculty from SILS decided they didn’t want to be part of it, and pretty much the whole deal fell apart.”

To hear Marchionini tell it, SILS ended its involvement because of what he described as fundamental differences between the proposed founding units.

For example, SILS has historically had a “much broader range of acceptable criteria for being successful,” with professors ranging from storytellers to archivists to human-computer interaction experts and more, compared to the more “technical” fields of statistics and computer science, Marchionini said. Questions also arose about governance structures and research operations in the proposed school. The statistics department asked in a December 2020 “pre-implementation” report whether the school’s graduate students would be supported by funds raised by faculty advisors or by teaching assistantships, as the department preferred.

“​​It was pretty clear that we had some really major differences in opinion about the world and about how we work together,” Marchionini said.

Now, as UNC-CH pursues a new merger, computer science and statistics aren’t included—at least, not now. “I think our feeling was that we wanted to do something that we’re fairly sure we could accomplish in a short period of time,” Dean said at the November faculty meeting. “That doesn’t mean that other schools, other people, couldn’t be part of it sometime down the future,” he added.

It’s not uncommon for information and data science disciplines to be housed under one roof. Of the top five information and library science schools in the country, as ranked by U.S. News & World Report, three currently offer programs in data science.

That includes the University of Maryland, which is tied for No. 3 with UNC-CH and where the College of Information offers undergraduate degrees in information science and “social data science,” which started in 2022, and several graduate programs. Douglas Oard, the Maryland program’s interim dean, said adding data science was a natural evolution from its graduate program in information management, which launched in 2003.

“It didn’t grow because we tried to grow data science,” Oard said. “It grew because data science was a natural thing to grow, and we had a garden in which to grow things.”

Giving It Another Try

That university leaders had decided to again pursue a merger came as a surprise to many in SILS and SDSS. 

Allred, the president of the Information and Library Science Student Association, learned of the plans in a group chat of fellow SILS students on October 8. Some of her peers had attended a SILS “town hall” meeting where Bardzell made the announcement before the university’s press release went out the next day, Allred said.

“It was new news to the faculty,” Allred said. “They did not know at all.”

Records obtained by The Assembly show Bardzell and Ahalt kept the plans to close circles in their respective schools in the weeks leading up to the announcement. 

On September 8, Bardzell wrote to Diane Kelly, a distinguished professor in SILS who is now interim dean, that he and Ahalt had met with the provost and “put to him the why question.”

“The gist: some of society’s most pressing issues are in a sociotechnical domain that SILS and SDSS both occupy,” Bardzell wrote. “They are pressing enough that the university needs a serious, concerted response.” 

But, Bardzell wrote, both SILS and SDSS are “very small, with SDSS still in start-up mode, and SILS in a place where it has missed some opportunities and has shown signs of losing steam.”

In a September 28 email to Ty Cole, who was SILS’ development officer, Bardzell said his school was facing several issues, including “disrespect and disinvestment from South Building,” which houses the chancellor’s office, and “low enrollments.” (In his emails to Kelly and Cole, Bardzell wrote that he had plans to address such issues, but plans for the new school took shape before he could implement them.)

University budgets for the 2025-26 fiscal year show SDSS got about $10.4 million from the general fund, which is a combination of state appropriations and tuition. This fall, the school enrolled more than 320 undergraduate and graduate students. That was a 72% increase in enrollment from last year, its first, when the school had 188 students and received roughly $8.9 million from the general fund. Legislators in September 2023 allocated $7.5 million in recurring funds to launch the school, plus $2.5 million in one-time start-up costs in the 2023-24 fiscal year, the university told The Assembly.

Meanwhile, SILS enrolled 602 students this fall—213 undergraduates and 389 graduate students—and received about $8.8 million this year, up about $750,000 from last year. 

SILS’ trajectory is complicated. Overall, since 2017—the earliest date at which public-facing enrollment data is available from the university—the school’s enrollment is up 52%. Undergraduate enrollment has nearly doubled during that time, but graduate enrollment has fallen the past three years after peaking in 2022.

It’s not clear whether enrollment or other concerns at SILS were driving factors in the merger. A university website about the effort says officials don’t plan on shuttering programs in either school, and “we are hoping the new school is able to support academic program growth, both in terms of enrollment and impact.” 

In a statement to The Assembly, Bardzell said: “I don’t know all the reasons that went into the merger decision, but I can say there is a growing level of overlap between the Library and Data Sciences.”

“In my opinion, students will be well served to have these disciplines available from a cohesive unit and the future school will be more competitive when seeking to attract the best and brightest students and grants,” he wrote.

Marchionini, who is in his last semester on the SILS faculty before retiring this month, said the growth of SDSS bodes well for the merger in that it places the two entities creating the new school on somewhat equal footing. As proposed five years ago, the relatively smaller SILS and statistics department would have merged with the much larger computer science department, which this spring was the fourth-largest major among the university’s graduating class of more than 4,300 students.

It should help that SDSS has made concerted efforts to live up to the “and Society” portion of its name, Ahalt told The Assembly. Like SILS faculty and others around the university, SDSS’ faculty “have a focused interest in making sure that what they’re doing is for the public good,” he said. In emails to Bardzell this fall, Ahalt highlighted three SDSS professors whose work uses data to study and analyze pressing issues like homelessness, gun ownership, and the ethics, policy, and governance of AI.

“The work the two schools do is mutually complementary,” Ahalt said in an interview. “And I think it’s going to be a real intellectual boost for us both, in the sense that we will be able to bring faculty together to talk about things from different perspectives.”

Email records from Bardzell and Ahalt show the deans discussing a need to frame the school as something new. Bardzell also told Kelly that the provost “views the merger as two equals coming together for a new, third entity; he does not see this as the dissolution of SILS into/under SDSS.”

Still, Allred said “hackles were raised” among many students and faculty when the word “library” was listed just once, in the SILS name, in the university’s announcement of the new school. In Allred’s eyes, it was a slight that carried extra weight given the federal government’s attempts to shut down an agency that issues grants to libraries.

Kelly framed the merger in a recent article on the SILS website as a change that would bring more eyes to the school’s work. “The core of what we do will not change as we propel the field forward into the next era,” she wrote. “What will change is how much people know about the incredible work our faculty, staff, students, and alumni do. The new school will give us a bigger platform to elevate this work.”

How Much Will AI Be a Factor?

The extent to which the new school will focus on AI is a question on many people’s minds, Allred said.

Initial reports about the merger claimed the technology would be at the core of the new school, with one unnamed SILS faculty member writing to The Daily Tar Heel that the result would be a “School of AI.” University leaders say the school won’t take that name, though the working groups are still determining what it will be called.

“AI is one of the things that the school will address, but the focus is quite a bit bigger than that,” Dean said at the November Faculty Council meeting.

UNC-CH in recent years has introduced initiatives to build AI “literacy” among students, faculty, and staff, with the campus libraries leading much of the effort, University Librarian María Estorino said at an Assembly event last month. The new school could bolster those efforts, and expand the university’s research on AI and its impacts.

Ahalt told The Assembly the school will “spend a significant amount of our thinking looking at how the new developments of AI, as well as the more traditional AI, is impacting society, impacting information, and how information flows.”

“I think lots of what’s happening in AI is going to impact many organizations … and so thinking that through, and trying to understand what the longer-term and shorter-term impacts are going to be, and maybe trying to avoid some of the unintended but unfortunate consequences, is a really good idea,” Ahalt said.

Roberts acknowledged at the event that the university, with its $4.5 billion budget this year, can’t compete with the massive, multibillion dollar investments some technology companies are making in AI and the researchers who study it. But he doesn’t “necessarily worry about recruiting talent in the academic context.”

“Every time we go out to recruit somebody, we’re overwhelmed with the quality of people that we get from around the world,” Roberts said. 

Some of that work is already happening in the existing schools; a handful of professors in SILS and SDSS list AI as part of their research interests. SDSS is expanding its efforts in the field after receiving approval from the UNC System Board of Governors last month to offer two new graduate degrees in data science starting next fall. Students in those programs will be able to choose from four specializations, including “advanced data science foundations and AI.”

Other questions about the new school remain, such as how the schools’ leadership structures will merge and whether staff positions will change. 

In some ways, the lack of specificity is welcome, Allred said: “Not having any answers of how it’s going to look does give immense agency to us.” 

They won’t have to wait much longer, as the new school is set to launch in seven months.

In March, Democratic voters will get a chance to pick Wake County’s next district attorney from a field of three. Meanwhile, most judges in Wake County up for reelection are running unopposed, and voters will have to wait until November to make their pick for sheriff. 

All of this year’s judicial and law enforcement races are taking place amid new state laws restricting officials’ discretion and a political climate that is not exactly friendly to criminal justice reform. 

Iryna’s Law, passed in the wake of a fatal stabbing in Charlotte that has become a flashpoint in national politics, could resume executions in death penalty cases in North Carolina. It also limits judges’ abilities to grant pretrial release, and requires judges to justify, in writing, granting pretrial release to anyone charged with a violent offense or with three or more prior qualifying convictions—which could have a chilling effect—among other provisions. 

And earlier this year, legislators further limited local sheriffs’ discretion over whether to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); under a new law they must notify the agency before releasing people charged with felonies or high-level misdemeanors from jail and hold them for up to 48 hours after scheduled release to allow federal officials to take them into custody.

Candidates for law enforcement and judicial offices will have to navigate these perennial election issues—the death penalty, pretrial release, immigration enforcement—anew on the campaign trail, and potentially in office.

Here’s an overview of who filed to run for district attorney, sheriff, clerk of court, and District and Superior court judgeships in Wake County.

Wake County District Attorney Democratic Primary

District attorneys have significant discretion to decide which cases are prosecuted in court, which are diverted to specialized programs or dismissed, and—frequently—how cases are resolved. With current Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman leaving office after more than a decade, Wake voters have a rare opportunity to choose from a slate that doesn’t include an incumbent. No Republican candidates filed for the seat, so the March primary between three Democrats will effectively decide the election.

Freeman has put her support behind Sherita Walton, a senior associate city attorney advising the Raleigh Police Department. Walton was previously an assistant district attorney in the Wake DA’s Office for nearly five years, prosecuting a range of cases from property crimes to homicides. Before that, she was a prosecutor in Manhattan for about eight years, and also handled white-collar crimes at a private law firm there.

Walton’s platform centers on prioritizing violent crimes, promoting trust in the office through community listening sessions and other measures, and pursuing effective criminal justice reforms, like diversion programs that reduce recidivism. If elected, she would be Wake County’s first Black district attorney.

Melanie Shekita is a veteran of the office, with 27 years of experience as an assistant district attorney, including handling sex crimes and homicides (she was also previously a firefighter). Shekita, if elected, is pledging to keep a violent crimes caseload as DA, work with law enforcement to address violent crime, partner with the community to reduce youth gun violence, and expand diversion options for people with mental illnesses who are charged with nonviolent offenses. Shekita has the endorsement of Freeman’s predecessor, Colon Willoughby.

Wiley Nickel worked in Wake County as a criminal defense attorney before serving two terms in the North Carolina state senate and then one term in Congress. Earlier this year he announced he would run for North Carolina’s open U.S. Senate seat but dropped out when former Gov. Roy Cooper entered the race. 

As district attorney, Nickel is pledging to be a “countywide voice for law enforcement” and establish a community engagement office to share information about the DA’s office with constituents. He says he will focus on violent crime and property theft, while deprioritizing marijuana arrests. Nickel has been endorsed by a host of local and state officials.

None of the candidates’ campaign websites address their stances on the death penalty, which Freeman controversially sought more than any district attorney in the state from 2015 to 2020.

Wake County Sheriff (No primary)

There won’t be a primary in the sheriff’s race. Instead, Democratic incumbent Willie Rowe and his Republican opponent Kenneth Blackwell will face off in November.

Rowe started working with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office in 1985 and worked his way up the ranks before retiring in 2013. He was elected sheriff in 2022. Earlier this year, Rowe touted on his campaign Facebook page that, since his election, the office had hired over 300 people, implemented crisis intervention training for all staff, and reinstated a senior wellness check program. 

Blackwell has served as a Wake County deputy, a U.S. Marshal and is currently an investigator with the State Capitol Police. Blackwell is running on a platform of reducing response times, prioritizing opioids and human trafficking, expanding mental health services, raising employee pay, and improving community relationships.

Wake County Clerk of Superior Court (No primary)

Clerk’s offices are responsible for all the recording keeping functions in a courthouse. The elected clerk of court oversees these employees and responsibilities.

Incumbent Democrat Claudia Croom is running against Republican Joe E. Teague, Jr. There will not be a primary election.

Croom has more than two decades of experience in the legal field, including as a civil magistrate and in private practice. She was appointed clerk of court last year and is seeking her first full term. There is not much publicly available information about Teague.

NC Superior Court Judges  

Superior court judges preside over higher-level criminal and civil cases, such as felonies and civil matters involving more than $25,000, as well as misdemeanor appeals. Superior court judges don’t just serve their home district, they rotate throughout the region. With no competitive races, Wake County won’t see any new faces on the superior court bench this year.

NC Superior Court Judge District 10B, Seat 01 (No primary)

Democratic incumbent Vince Rozier, Jr. is running unopposed. He’s been a superior court judge for about nine years and was previously a district court judge and assistant district attorney. 

NC Superior Court Judge District 10D, Seat 01 (No primary)

Democratic incumbent Keith Gregory is running unopposed. He’s been a superior court judge for about eight years and was a district court judge for another eight years before that.

NC District Court Judges 

District court judges hear lower-level criminal and civil cases, including traffic infractions and misdemeanors, as well as child custody cases and juvenile crime cases. Just one of eight district court seats up for reelection will be on ballots for the March primary.

NC District 10A, Seat 01 (Republican primary)

Two Republican candidates are seeking this seat, so there will be a primary. 

Incumbent Rashad Ahmed Hauter was appointed in 2021; according to Campbell Law School, that made him the first Yemeni American judge in the country. Hauter has previously worked as an immigration attorney, criminal defense attorney, and assistant district attorney with the Wake DA’s office. He was unopposed in his 2024 reelection.

Challenger Daniel Wright doesn’t appear to have a campaign website.

NC District 10B, Seat 01 (No primary)

Incumbent Democrat David K. Baker is running unopposed. Baker was appointed to the bench in 2019 after a decade working for Legal Aid and in private practice focusing on criminal defense and personal injury law.

NC District 10D, Seat 01 (No primary)

Incumbent Democrat Margaret Eagles is running unopposed. Eagles has served as a district court judge since 2009. She was appointed Wake County’s chief district court judge in 2024.

NC District 10D, Seat 02 (No primary)

One Democrat and one Republican filed for this seat, so this race will appear on ballots in November. 

J. Brian Ratledge is the incumbent and Republican in the race. He was first elected to the bench in 2018. In 2021, he was named the lead family court judge for Wake County, and primarily presides over family court cases, in addition to some criminal matters. He recently served on the North Carolina Supreme Court’s Rules Advisory Commission and the Wake County Board of Elections. 

Mercedes Restucha, the Democrat in the race, is currently an assistant attorney general with the N.C. Department of Justice. She was previously a staff attorney with Disability Rights NC and spent several years in private practice. She recently served on the N.C. State Advisory Committee to U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and the board of El Pueblo, Inc., among other affiliations.

NC District 10D, Seat 03 (No primary)

Incumbent Democrat Kevin Boxberger is running unopposed. Boxberger was appointed to the district court bench by Gov. Cooper in 2024 and previously worked as a regional defender for North Carolina Indigent Defense Services.

NC District 10E, Seat 01 (No primary)

Incumbent Democrat Sam Hamadani is running unopposed. Hamadani has been a district court judge for about nine years. She doesn’t appear to have a campaign website.

NC District 10E, Seat 02 (No primary)

Incumbent Democrat Louis Meyer is running unopposed. Meyer has been a district court judge since 2012 and was a civil litigation attorney for 27 years before that.

NC District 10F, Seat 01 (No primary)

Incumbent Democrat Chris Brooks is running unopposed. Brooks is a former special deputy attorney general who represented and advised the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles. He was appointed to this seat in March 2025.

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High-profile courts and law enforcement positions are on the slate of electoral races in 2026. In Durham, voters will cast ballots for sheriff, district attorney, the clerk of superior court and a number of district and superior court seats, all of which make up the gears of the criminal justice machine that apply laws and procedures, issue reprimands and implement potential reforms.

Candidates in this election are running amid recent changes to state law that have significant impact on the discretion of and decisions made by local law enforcement officials. Last year, the state legislature passed House Bill 10, requiring local enforcement agencies to work more closely with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and in October, the state house took further steps to push police departments and sheriffs’ offices to cooperate with federal agents.  

The two bills come as federal immigration agents have an increased presence throughout North Carolina, concerning many residents who worry for the safety of their neighbors. The Trump administration has targeted Democratic cities which the president has deemed crime-ridden, even though crime has continued to decline in those areas, including in Durham where violent crime is down significantly in nearly every category—homicides, robberies, and aggravated assault—over the five-year average.

The state legislature also passed Iryna’s Law, which limits judicial officials’ discretion in determining pretrial release and expands the state’s options for state executions.

These changes are the backdrop for next year’s electoral campaigns. The winner of the Democratic primary in March will likely run unopposed in the general election next November, save for a write-in campaign or an unaffiliated candidate campaign petition, as in 2022 when Maria Jocys ran as an Independent in the general election for the sheriff’s seat. This raises the stakes for many primary races.

Here’s who’s running and what to know about the candidates ahead of the March primary.

Durham County Sheriff Democratic Primary

Clarence Birkhead was elected sheriff in 2018 when he beat out incumbent Michael Andrews, who served in the role for six years, with 69% of the vote in the primary. No serious contenders challenged Birkhead in the subsequent primary election and in 2022, Birkhead defeated Jocys with 71% of the vote in the general election.

Birkhead’s tenure has not always been smooth sailing. Public safety advocates say Birkhead has dragged his feet on adopting the nonviolent response program HEART countywide. In 2024, the Civil Rights Corps filed a federal lawsuit against Birkhead and district court judge Dorretta Walker for closing dependency court hearings to public monitors.

Birkhead’s opponent in the Democratic primary, Johnny Hawkins, has worked for the North Carolina Department of Security Services for over a decade, and currently serves as the Chief of Detention Services for Durham County. In a report, Durham’s Safety and Wellness Task Force, a joint governmental program that makes recommendations for alternatives to policing and the criminal legal system, has called into question Hawkins’s documented use of segregated housing and solitary confinement as a form of punishment inside the jail, even for seemingly minor infractions.

Durham County District Attorney Democratic Primary

When Satana Deberry was first elected as Durham’s district attorney in 2018, she was seen as part of a new wave of progressive district attorneys nationwide who would tackle criminal justice reform head-on. She rolled back or discontinued numerous courthouse practices, including prosecuting nonviolent drug felonies and misdemeanors, and seeking cash bail, soon after taking office.

In 2024, Deberry leveraged her widespread support locally to launch a bid for state attorney general. She received endorsements from the influential Durham Committee and the People’s Alliance PACs, but came up short in the Democratic primary against eventual winner Jeff Jackson.

Some residents feel Deberry’s tactics have been too lenient, and reports in early 2025 of Deberry’s higher-than-usual absences from her office have caused residents to question her commitment to the job.

Jonathan Wilson is a criminal defense attorney. He ran unsuccessfully for Durham district attorney in the 2022 Democratic primary against Deberry, receiving 16% of the vote.

Most of Wilson’s disagreements with Deberry seem to be more procedural than political. But in his 2022 INDY candidate questionnaire, Wilson said that while he is aligned with Deberry on a number of issues, he believes “there have been missed opportunities to effectively prosecute violent crime as evidenced by disproportionately light plea offers and acquittals.”

Wilson also serves as vice president of the board of directors for the Durham County Teen Court and Restitution Program, an organization “with a mission of providing constructive opportunities for community service and victim restitution while holding juvenile and youthful offenders accountable for criminal and delinquent behavior.”

Clerk of Superior Court Democratic Primary

Aminah Thompson is serving her first term as clerk of superior court in Durham. She won the Democratic primary in 2022 with 65 percent of the vote.

The clerk is responsible for administrative, clerical, and record-keeping functions for the district and superior courts system. Before she was elected clerk, Thompson served as a magistrate judge for over a decade.

Thompson earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University and a law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. A longtime Durham resident, Thompson has been a member of local groups and served on numerous political committees, including the Durham Committee, Durham Democratic Party, People’s Alliance, and Duke Alumni Association.

A. Beverly Ellis-Maclin will challenge Thompson in the Democratic primary for the clerk of court seat. Ellis-Maclin works as a customer success specialist at Durham-based Adwerx, an advertising software company, according to her LinkedIn profile.

NC Superior Court Judge District 16B Seat 2 Democratic Primary

Myra Griffin has served on the North Carolina Industrial Commission since 2005. The commission oversees administration of the Workers’ Compensation Act, the Tort Claims Act, the Childhood Vaccine-Related Injury Act, the Public Safety Employees’ Death Benefits Act, the Act to Compensate Individuals Erroneously Convicted of Felonies, and the Eugenics Compensation Program. Commissioners review claims of workers’ compensation and distribute medical benefits to workers in those cases, among other services.

Griffin has lived in Durham for 31 years. She received her law degree from North Carolina Central University. On her campaign Facebook page, Griffin shared an endorsement from former Durham mayor Steve Schewel: “Years on City Council and later as Mayor taught me how deeply the Superior Court affects the safety, stability, and quality of life for Durham residents,” Schewel wrote. “Myra Griffin understands this responsibility and brings the fairness, preparation, and commitment that this role demands. She will serve our community with the care and integrity that Durham deserves.”

Griffin’s opponent is Ameshia Cooper Chester, a Durham native and graduate of Durham Public Schools.

Chester earned her law degree from the University of Charlotte School of Law. She currently serves as a special deputy attorney general with the North Carolina Department of Justice, prosecuting tax law violations and representing the state in criminal appellate matters. Chester was previously a prosecutor in the district attorney’s office, where she gained experience in criminal law at the local level.

NC Superior Court Judge District 16B Seat 3 (No primary)

Josephine Kerr Davis was first elected to the state superior court in Judicial District 14B, defeating Dawn Baxton in the general election in 2018. After the district was redrawn, Kerr Davis now serves District 16B Seat 3.

Kerr Davis has over 15 years of criminal and civil law experience through positions as an assistant public defender, prosecutor, assistant attorney general, and appeals hearing officer.

She has been a member of the People’s Alliance and Durham Democratic Women, as well as a former instructor at Durham Technical Community College. She also served on the advisory board of the Durham Expunction and Restoration (DEAR) program, which worked to provide increased access to expunctions, certificates for relief and driver’s license restoration.

Kerr Davis is running unopposed and will not be on the primary ballot in March.

NC District Court Judge District 16 Seat 1 (No primary)

Dave Hall has served as a district court judge since 2018. Hall previously served in North Carolina’s 14th Judicial District, where he won elections in 2018 and 2022, before the district was redrawn.

Hall is running unopposed and will not be on the primary ballot in March.

NC District Court Judge District 16 Seat 2 Democratic Primary

Dorreta Walker has served on the bench since 2010, and has run unopposed in the last two election cycles in 2018 and 2022.

Walker, along with Sheriff Birkhead, is at the center of a lawsuit brought by the Civil Rights Corps in 2024, which alleges that “blocking public access to dependency proceedings violates the First Amendment’s presumption of open courts,” according to reporting by the INDY. Walker did not respond to inquiries from the INDY for the story. 

Keith Bishop, Walker’s opponent, has his own legal practice, and takes on myriad case types as a one-man operation. Bishop ran for district attorney back in 2008, and spent years as legal counsel for the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, according to his LinkedIn profile.

NC District Court Judge District 16 Seat 3 (No primary)

Kevin E. Jones is currently serving his first term as district court judge. He was elected in 2022, beating out Pat Evans in the primary with 72% of the vote.

Jones worked as a 5th grade teacher and assistant public defender for Durham County before starting his own practice in 2007. He is a member of the Durham Committee and People’s Alliance PACs.

In his 2022 questionnaire, Jones said he was running for district court “to bring a new perspective that focuses more on serving the citizens of Durham and less on maintaining outdated, inefficient, and out of touch policies.”

Jones is running unopposed and will not be on the primary ballot in March.

NC District Court Judge District 16 Seat 4 (No primary)

Dorothy Hairston Mitchell was first appointed to her seat in December 2021 by then-governor Roy Cooper to replace Brian C. Wilks. She ran opposed to retain her seat in 2022.

Hairston Mitchell received her bachelor’s and law degrees from North Carolina Central University. She may be a familiar face to folks who have been closely following local politics. Hairston Mitchell was the judge who presided over the swearing in of council member Shanetta Burris and mayor Leonardo Williams during the ceremony on December 1.

Hairston Mitchell is running unopposed and will not be on the primary ballot in March.

NC District Court Judge District 16 Seat 5 Democratic Primary

Clayton Jones has been a district court judge since 2018 after he beat out incumbent James Hill, earning 76% of the vote. Jones ran unopposed during his re-election bid in 2022. He currently serves as Chief District Court Judge for Durham County.

A graduate of NCCU law school, Jones worked for 15 years as an assistant public defender, specifically advocating for stronger representation and better outcomes for Durham’s juvenile offenders.

Earlier this month, the News & Observer reported that Jones was arrested on assault and domestic violence charges. Jones called the accusations “entirely false” in a statement released by his attorney.

Jones’s challenger, Durham attorney Christy A. Hamilton Malott, received her law degree from NC Central University and currently practices as a guardian ad litem attorney advocate, according to her LinkedIn profile. She spent seven years at JusticeMatters, helping represent immigrants and others with limited resources. Additionally, as a family law attorney, Malott has represented clients in adoptions, guardianship proceedings, divorce, custody, alimony, post-separation support, equitable distribution, and termination of parental rights. In 2017, Malott applied for consideration for Rep. Marcia Morey’s district court seat after Morey was appointed to the state house. Gov. Roy Cooper ultimately appointed Amanda Maris to the seat, which Maris currently holds.

NC District Court Judge District 16 Seat 6 (No primary)

Amanda L. Maris was first appointed to the bench by Gov. Cooper in July 2017. She ran unopposed for the seat in 2018 and 2022.

Maris is a co-founder of the DEAR Program. She often presides over Family Court where she “worked to assist Durham’s families in disputes over custody, child support, alimony, property distribution and divorce,” according to her campaign website.

Maris is running unopposed and will not be on the primary ballot in March.

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The Wake County Board of Commissioners sets policy, levies taxes, funds public education, and oversees the operation of parks, libraries, and emergency services for the approximately 1.2 million residents of North Carolina’s most populous county. 

This election cycle, the commission is growing to nine members, adding two new at-large members this year in addition to its current seven district seats. Commissioners serve staggered four-year terms.

Because of a state law passed in 2023, Wake County voters can now only vote for commissioner candidates in the at-large race and in the district where they live. You can check your county commission district here.

Here’s who’s running in 2026 and what to know about the candidates ahead of the March 3 primary.

At-Large (2 seats, all residents may vote for two candidates)

There are seven Democrats running in the March primary for this seat. The two who advance to the general election in November have a good chance of both being elected based on past county commission election results.

According to her social media, Marguerite Creel runs a tutoring business and is a former professor. She unsuccessfully primaried Joe John, the former Democratic representative in North Carolina House District 40, in 2022. Her campaign website doesn’t have any content yet.

Three-term Raleigh city council member at-large Jonathan Lambert-Melton has experience making decisions about affordable housing, transit, parks, and public safety, and the budget in Wake County’s biggest (and only) city. Other components of a county commissioner’s workload, like funding the public school system and overseeing Wake’s health and human services departments, would be less familiar for him. On his campaign website, Lambert-Melton lists public school investment and affordable housing among his top priorities. He also notes he’d be Wake County’s first LGBTQ commissioner if elected.

Kimberly McGhee is a Raleigh-based entrepreneur and community advocate. Her website lists housing and health care access among her top priorities.

Robert Mitchener Jr. is a retired former deputy sheriff from Raleigh and the founder of Our Youth Matters, a youth mentorship program. He doesn’t appear to have a campaign website.

Former Wake County school board member of 11 years Christine Kushner serves on the Wake County Health and Human Services Board and the Southern Regional Education Board. Earlier in her career she was a health care policy analyst and nonprofit administrator. She says she’ll champion public education and health care access if elected. Her website lists a long slate of endorsers including former school board colleagues, would-be county commission colleagues, local council members, and a big chunk of Wake County’s state legislative delegation. 

Fifteen-year Morrisville town council member Steve Rao wants to expand affordable housing, attract new businesses to the county and increase public school funding if elected to the commission. He is endorsed by a long list of state and local Democratic political figures.

Mona Singh is a technology consultant and community volunteer who lives in Cary. She’s been organizing with her local Democratic Party for years and helped elect three Democrats to the Cary Town Council in 2024. On her website, she writes that she wants to invest in public education and use her tech expertise to advise the county on responsible AI use.

There are two Republicans running for the at-large seats, so they’ll both advance to the general election without a primary. They both appear to be first-time candidates.

Gary Dale Hartong is president of The Wooten Company, an engineering firm headquartered in Raleigh, and lives near Wake Forest according to his campaign website. He writes there that he believes Wake County should be investing in infrastructure, public schools, and supporting the business community. 

Kyle Stogoski doesn’t appear to have a campaign website or public social media presence. According to Linkedin, he works for a massage business in Cary. According to the North State Journal, he organized a memorial for Charlie Kirk in Raleigh this year.

To get the new at-large seats on track with the commission’s staggered, four-year terms, the highest vote-getter will serve a four-year term, and the second place candidate will serve a two-year term.

District 1 (No primary)

In December, incumbent Don Mial’s colleagues unanimously elected him chair of the board of commissioners. He’s a Democrat, U.S. Army veteran, and community college instructor who used to work for the N.C. Department of Public Safety’s juvenile justice division. He was elected in 2022. Here’s his campaign website.

Mial—whose district covers eastern Wake County including Rolesville, Wendell, and Zebulon—is running unopposed and will not appear on the March primary ballot.

District 2 (District 2 residents may vote for one candidate)

This district spans southern Wake County including the fast-growing towns of Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina. This has historically been Wake’s reddest district, meaning the new rule restricting voters to only voting in their home districts puts incumbent Democrat Safiyah Jackson at a disadvantage compared to previous years. On the other hand, Holly Springs and Fuquay-Varina both elected Democratic mayors in 2025 and their demographics are changing as their populations grow.

After a fairly close run against state representative Erin Paré in 2024, Jackson was appointed to the board of commissioners in early 2025 to fill Matt Calabria’s vacant seat. Earlier this month she was named vice chair of the board. Jackson has a background in early childhood psychology and business and has focused on affordable housing and economic development in her first year as a commissioner.

Her Republican opponent John Adcock is a real estate and land use attorney in Fuquay-Varina with an as-yet-unsuccessful electoral history. He ran for a Wake County Commission seat in 2016 but was disqualified because the district was ruled unconstitutional before the election. He was appointed to fill a short vacancy in N.C. House District 37 in 2018, but lost his bid to serve a full term. In a November Facebook post, he wrote that he wants to curb tax increases and enforce financial responsibility in county government. He does not appear to have a campaign website.

Since Jackson and Adcock are the only two candidates in this race, they will automatically advance to the November general election without a primary.

District 3 (No primary)

Incumbent Cheryl Stallings is a psychologist and former Apex town council member. She took office in 2022 and is running unopposed for a second term. Her district covers Cary and Morrisville. Stallings, a Democrat, chairs the commission’s Health and Human Services Committee and is a member of its Education Committee. She will not appear on the March primary ballot.

District 7 (No primary)

Three-term incumbent Democrat Vickie Adamson is running unopposed in this district, which spans a wedge of western Wake County from northwest Raleigh to Morrisville. A retired accountant and business analyst, Adamson has been a big proponent of education and affordable housing funding on the county commission. Her campaign website outlines her priorities in more detail. Adamson will not appear on the March primary ballot.

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State legislative seats across North Carolina are up for reelection in 2026. Although few in the Triangle will see a competitive primary in March, there are some to watch.

In House District 37 in southern Wake county, three Democrats will face off to be their party’s nominee to take on incumbent state Rep. Erin Paré in the general election. Democrats will be hoping to flip this swing district, along with another in northeastern Wake County, come November, especially after Dems made big gains in the Triangle’s municipal elections this fall when they picked up several (officially nonpartisan) mayor and council seats that had been held by Republicans.

Over in Durham, the big contest to watch is House District 22 (OK, the only one to watch; the other incumbent legislators in Durham are all but guaranteed reelection). Former city council member DeDreana Freeman is challenging one-term incumbent Sophia Chitlik in the Democratic primary, which will, barring something unexpected, decide the race in solidly blue Durham. 

And in Orange County’s House District 50, longtime public servant Renée Price faces a primary challenge from Mary Lucas, who brings experience with the local Democratic Party and government boards.

Not sure which district you’re in? Search your name in the state’s voter lookup and check the “Your Jurisdictions” section. Voters registered with a particular party can only vote in that party’s primary, while unaffiliated voters can choose any party’s ballot.

Here’s a look at all the candidates who filed to run for state legislative seats in Wake County,  Durham County, and Orange County this year, and which will appear on ballots in the upcoming primary. 

Wake County

N.C. Senate

District 13 (No primary)

This district includes the southern part of Wake County. One Democrat and one Republican have filed to run for this seat, so there will be no primary election. 

Incumbent Democrat Lisa Grafstein was first elected in 2022 and is seeking a third term. She is a civil rights attorney specializing in employment law and disability rights. As a legislator she has focused on health care, reproductive rights, and affordability.

Republican candidate, Robert van Brederode is a resident of Fuquay-Varina and tax lawyer specializing in international and global consumption taxes according to his LinkedIn profile. He doesn’t appear to have a campaign site.

District 14 (No primary)

This district covers Southeast Raleigh and a large portion of Wake County. One Democrat and one Republican filed to run for this seat, so there will be no primary election. 

Incumbent Democrat Dan Blue Jr. has been a fixture in North Carolina politics for more than four decades, serving as state house speaker in the 1990s and as the former state senate leader. In the General Assembly, Blue has focused on public education, economic growth, and health care. 

Republican candidate, teacher, and Wake Forest resident Angela B. McCarty is making a second bid for this seat. While there is little public information available, McCarty’s 2024 campaign Facebook page said her top priority was “school safety pertaining to gun violence and drugs” and “school choice.”

District 15 (No primary)

This district covers a large portion of central and North Raleigh. One Democrat and one Republican have filed to run for this seat, so there will be no primary election. 

Jay Chaudhuri, the incumbent, is seeking a sixth term in the House. A state senator since 2016 and the current Democratic whip, Chaudhuri has focused on supporting public education and economic innovation.

David Bankert, a Republican candidate, has worked in business for the fields of engineering, manufacturing, and construction for more than three decades. He unsuccessfully challenged Chaudhuri in 2024.

District 16 (No primary)

This district covers Cary. One Democrat, one Republican, and one Libertarian have filed to run for this seat, so there will be no primary election. 

Democrat Gale Adcock is running for her third term in the state senate after serving four terms in the House. A family nurse practitioner who worked at SAS for 26 years, Adcock has focused on public education, access to health care, strengthening the economy, and environmental issues during her time in the legislature. 

The Republican in the race, Philip Hensley, is a Cary business owner who ran against Rep. Allison Dahle in the state house District 11 race in 2024. 

Jonathan Miller, a Libertarian candidate also filed for the District 16 seat. There is little public information available about Miller. 

District 17 

This district covers parts of Cary, Apex, and western Wake County. With one Democrat, one Libertarian, and two Republicans in the race, there will be a Republican primary. 

Incumbent Sydney Batch did not draw any challengers from within the Democratic Party. A family law attorney, Batch has served in both the state house and state senate, and last December was elected as the senate’s Democratic leader, ousting longtime Democratic leader Blue. Batch’s legislative priorities have included advocating for more funding for public schools, affordable health care, child welfare, and public safety. 

Republican Primary

Two Republican candidates filed for the District 17 seat: Apex resident Sarah Al-Baghadi and Shirley Johnson. There is not much information publicly available about either. 

Libertarian candidate Patrick Bowersox is challenging Batch for a third time. On his website, Bowersox cites getting government regulations out of the way for small businesses as his main priority. 

District 18

This district covers a portion of northern Wake County and Granville County. With one Democrat, two Republicans, and one Libertarian candidate in the race, there will be a Republican primary.  

Incumbent Democrat Terence Everitt is seeking a second term. After serving three terms in the state house, Terence Everitt won the senate District 18 seat by a razor-thin margin against Republican Ashlee Adams in 2024. As a lawmaker, Everitt has advocated for access to reproductive health care, government transparency, public education, and criminal justice reform. 

Republican Primary

Wake Forest resident Chris Stock, an attorney with his own law practice, has worked in the General Assembly and for Republican state senator Brent Jackson. His website cites economic revitalization, public safety, investment in infrastructure and public education, and preserving farmland as priorities.  

A member of the Wake County school board since 2022, Cheryl Caulfield is running an education-focused campaign for the state senate, according to her website. Caulfield says she wants to prioritize spending for classroom needs, advocate for ESL, special education, and gifted students, and address bullying and school violence. Other legislative priorities include advocating for more government transparency, “securing our borders,” limiting property tax increases, supporting veterans, and fighting the “vaping epidemic.”

Libertarian candidate Brad Hessel, the chair of the Wake County Libertarian Party, has unsuccessfully run for this seat twice. A self-described knowledge management consultant, Hessel wants to lower health care costs, provide students and families more choices when it comes to education, reform elections, and “unshackle economic activity,” according to his website.

NC House

District 11 (No primary)

This district covers parts of Raleigh, Cary, and western Wake County. With one Democrat and on Libertarian candidate in the race, there will be no primary. 

Incumbent Democrat Allison Dahle has represented District 11 since 2018. In the legislature, Dahle has served as vice chair of the Elections and Ethics Law Committee and prioritized legislation related to elections and voting. 

Libertarian candidate, computer scientist and Cary resident Matthew Kordon, ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2024. He is an advocate for independent redistricting, marijuana legalization, and environmental preservation, according to his website. 

District 21 (No primary)

This district covers parts of Cary and western Wake County. With one Republican and one Democrat in the race, there will be no primary. 

A faculty member at Duke Law School, Ya Liu was elected to the House in 2022 after serving on the Cary Town Council. Liu, a Democrat, has sponsored hundreds of bills in the state house and seen several signed into law, including legislation to keep children together in foster care and a bill supporting child advocacy centers. She’s seeking a third term in the House.

Republican candidate and cybersecurity engineer Bryson Johnson’s campaign Facebook page offers few details about what issues he’s focused on, but notes that he is “running for the 86% of Americans who are not far right or left, but the Exhausted Majority.”

District 33 (No primary)

This district covers parts of Garner and southern Wake County. With one Democrat and one Republican in the race, there will be no primary. 

Incumbent Democrat Monika Johnson Hostler is running for her second term in the state house. A former Wake County school board member for 11 years, Johnson-Hostler is the executive director of the nonprofit NC Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Johnson-Hostler has focused on legislation aimed at supporting public education and victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. 

Republican candidate, Garner resident, and small business owner Matthew Orr says heis running to lower taxes, improve public education, and restore integrity in government.

District 34 (No primary)

This district covers parts of North Raleigh and northern Wake County. With one Democrat and one Libertarian candidate in the race, there will be no primary. 

Democratic incumbent and attorney Tim Longest is running for his third term in the state house, where he has focused on environmental protection, tenants’ rights, and advocacy for victims of domestic violence. 

Libertarian candidate and biotech industry consultant, Ed George ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2024. At the time, he wrote his priorities included removing government regulations and expanding families’ choices for schools.

District 35 (Republican primary)

This district covers parts of northeastern Wake County. With one Democrat and two Republicans in the race, there will be a Republican primary. As a swing district and one of just two House districts in the county currently represented by a Republican, the Democratic Party will be aiming to flip the district come November.

Evonne Hopkins filed to run for the seat as a Democrat. A family law attorney, Hopkins narrowly lost a 2024 bid for the seat to current Rep. Mike Schietzelt. On her website, Hopkins cites health care, public education, environmental conservation, public safety, infrastructure, and addressing the cost of living as legislative priorities.  

Republican Primary

Republican incumbent Mike Schietzelt is seeking a second term in the state house. On his campaign website, he cites lowering the cost of living, prioritizing public safety, strengthening public education, and infrastructure and economic growth as priorities this election cycle. 

Wake Forest resident Michele Joyner-Dinwiddie works as a math teacher at Wake County Public Schools, according to her LinkedIn page. Joyner-Dinwiddie is a member of NC Educators on the Ballot, a group of educators who have organized to challenge incumbent lawmakers across the state in this year’s election cycle.    

District 36 (No primary) 

This district is located in western Wake County, covering parts of Apex, Cary, and Holly Springs. With one Democrat and one Republican in the race, there will be no primary. 

Incumbent Democrat Julie von Haefen is running for her fifth term in the state house. A lawyer  and former PTA president at the school, county and state levels, von Haefen has focused as a legislator on increasing K-12 education funding, improving school safety, and expanding access to early childhood education. 

Cary resident and Republican candidate Mary Insprucker ran unsuccessfully for Cary Town Council in 2022. Her platform includes focusing on the cost of living, homeowner rights, and public education.

District 37 (Democratic primary)

This swing district is located in southern Wake County and covers parts of Fuquay-Varina, Holly Springs, and Garner. With one Republican and three Democrats in the race, there will be a Democratic primary, and Democrats will be hoping to reclaim the seat in the fall.

Running for her fourth term in the state house, Erin Paré won this swing district with 52 percent of the vote in 2024 against Safiyah Jackson, now a Wake County commissioner. In the state house, Paré has chaired the health committee, supported private school vouchers, and sponsored legislation to change how Wake County commissioners are elected from at-large to district representation. 

Democratic Primary 

A professor at UNC Law School and Fuquay-Varina resident, Marcus Gadson said in an Instagram post announcing his candidacy that his campaign will focus on affordability, opportunity, and accountability. 

An activist with the Wake County Democratic Party, Fuquay-Varina resident Winn Decker is a public policy expert focusing on education. Decker’s campaign is focused on affordability, strong schools, and thriving communities.

Ralph Clements, who works on hospital computer systems, says he is running “to provide experienced leadership, address real issues, and move away from divisive politics.” 

District 38 (Democratic primary)

This Wake County district covers Southeast Raleigh. With only two Democrats in the race for this seat, the March primary will effectively determine who will represent the district through 2028. 

Democratic Primary

Incumbent Abe Jones is running for a fourth term in the state house.  A Wake County Public Schools and Harvard graduate as well as a former superior court judge and Wake County commissioner, Jones has prioritized affordable housing, vocational education, and criminal justice reform as a legislator.

A Raleigh native, Collin Fearns lists public education, increasing the housing supply and improving affordability, criminal justice reform, and transparency in government as his campaign priorities. 

District 39 (No primary) 

This Wake County district covers northeast Raleigh. With one Democrat, one Republican, and one Libertarian in the race, there will be no primary. 

A dean at Wake Tech and the former mayor of Knightdale, Democrat James Roberson is running for his fourth term in the state house. As a legislator, Roberson has served on a range of committees and focused on higher education and workforce training. 

Republican candidate Jorge Cordova is a flooring installation professional who has run unsuccessfully for Wendell’s town board of commissioners. He does not appear to have a campaign website for the state house seat yet.

Libertarian candidate Wayne Cockrell is a retired automation engineer, according to LinkedIn.

District 40 (No primary)

This Wake County district primarily covers North Raleigh. With one Democrat and one Libertarian candidate in the race, there will be no primary.  

Incumbent and Democrat Phil Rubinwas appointed to the seat in January following the death of the district’s longtime Rep. Joe John. The former federal prosecutor lists fully funding public schools, building the economy, gun safety, and protecting democracy as his legislative priorities. 

Libertarian candidate Lucas Jones is a student at Wake Tech studying video game design and development, according to LinkedIn. 

District 41 (No primary)

This district covers Morrisville and parts of western Wake County. With one Democrat and one Republican in the race, there will be no primary.

A former Wake County commissioner, Democrat Maria Cervania is running for her third term in the state house. On her website, Cervania lists access to affordable health care, fully funding and supporting public education, protecting the environment and balanced growth as her legislative priorities. 

Cary resident and Republican candidate Bruce Forster owns a window and siding company, according to LinkedIn. He ran for the seat in 2022.

District 49 (No primary)

This district covers central and west Raleigh and parts of Cary. With one Republican and one Democrat in the race, there will be no primary. 

A professional mediator, Democrat Cynthia Ball is running for her sixth term in the state house, where she has served as freshman Democratic chair, Democratic whip, Democratic conference chair, and deputy leader of the house Democrats. Ball has focused on public education, sponsoring bills to improve funding and recruit more teachers, as well as voting rights and health care. 

There is little information publicly available about Republican candidate Daran Thomas. 

District 66 (No primary).

This district is located in northeastern Wake County. Democratic incumbent Sarah Crawford is the only candidate in the race, meaning she’s a lock-in to represent the district through 2028.

Crawford is the CEO of the Tammy Lynn Center for Developmental Disabilities and is running for her third term in the house. She also served for one term in the state senate. Crawford has sponsored bills related to adult developmental programs, child care, reproductive health care, and abortion access.

Durham County

N.C. Senate

District 20 (No primary)

This district includes Chatham County and the southern portion of Durham County. Incumbent and Democrat Natalie Murdock faces no competition in her bid for a fourth term in the house. 

Murdock has a variety of experience in government and politics, including roles in the local Democratic Party, communications, and transportation. She has sponsored bills aimed at supporting families’ economic mobility, reproductive and health care, local infrastructure and culture projects, and environmental justice.

District 22 (Democratic Primary)

This district includes much of Durham County, except for parts of south Durham. The only competitive primary for a state legislative seat in Durham, it features an intriguing match-up between one-term incumbent Sophia Chitlik and former Durham City Council member DeDreana Freeman. In a solidly blue district, the March primary will effectively decide who wins the seat.

Chitlik is seeking a second term after unseating longtime state Sen. Mike Woodard in 2023. She previously worked in education nonprofits and has founded several organizations, including a wellness company and a consulting firm. She worked in former President Barack Obama’s campaign and labor department. As a legislator, Chitlik has focused on health care, reproductive care, and supporting parents and children. 

Freeman was first elected to the Durham City Council in 2017 and was reelected with 70 percent of the vote in 2021 (she ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2023). Last month, she lost a tight race against Matt Kopac. Freeman has lived in Durham since the mid-2000s and has worked for nearly a decade at the East Durham Children’s Initiative. As a city council member, Freeman advocated for affordable housing, racial equity and community engagement.

Lakeshia Alston is running for the seat as a Republican and doesn’t appear to have a campaign website.

N.C. House

District 2 (No primary)

Ray Jeffers isn’t facing competition on his way to a third term in the House. The farmer and nonprofit administrator represents Person County and northern Durham. He has sponsored bills to support farmers, workforce housing and local control of zoning decisions.

District 29 (No primary)

Vernetta Alston, whose district includes southwest Durham County, is unopposed in her bid for a fourth term. An attorney who previously worked in death penalty litigation and served on the Durham City Council, Alston has focused on housing access, criminal justice debt reform, and support for children and families.

District 30 (No primary)

Incumbent Marcia Morey drew no primary challengers. Morey’s house district, which the former judge has represented since 2017, includes a portion of western Durham. As a legislator, she is a founding member of the Progressive House Caucus who has focused on gun safety, workers’ rights, criminal justice reform, and voting rights.

Libertarian candidate ​​Ray Ubinger doesn’t appear to have a current campaign site; he unsuccessfully ran for state senate the past four cycles.

District 31 (No primary)

Incumbent Zack Hawkins is also unopposed for reelection to a fifth term representing east and southeast Durham. Hawkins, a former Durham Public Schools teacher, has focused on education, support for children, economic mobility, and health care.

Orange County

N.C. Senate 

District 23 (No primary)

This district includes Caswell, Orange and Person counties. There is no primary in March, but voters can expect to see a 2024 rematch in November between Democrat Graig Meyer, who has held the seat since 2022, and Republican challenger Laura Pichardo. 

Meyer was elected in 2013 to the House of Representatives, where he served four terms. He is now seeking a third term in the senate. With a background in social work, he has focused on education and health care as a legislator and has also championed marijuana legalization as a way to address racial inequity. 

Pichardo works for Hanesbrands and serves as treasurer for Caswell County Republicans. Her platform focuses on supporting health care and education access rural areas and promoting the First and Second Amendments.

N.C. House

District 50 (Democratic primary)

This district includes Orange and Caswell counties. No Republican candidates filed, so the winner of the March Democratic Primary between the incumbent and a challenger will effectively decide the seat. 

Incumbent Renée Price was elected to the state House in 2022 and is seeking a third term. Before she joined the House, she served on the Orange County Board of Commissioners for ten years and worked as an urban planner. In the legislature, she’s focused on education, local governance and voting rights. 

Mary Lucas, a vice president at a nonprofit hospice and palliative care organization, serves on the Orange County Advisory Board on Aging and the Orange County Animal Services Advisory Board. She’s a precinct chair for the Orange County Democratic Party. Among her priority issues are expanding health care, investing in public schools, and improving access for rural residents.

According to a campaign site, candidate Brandall Redd is running on a platform of “creating good-paying jobs, strengthening public education, expanding access to health care, and standing up for civil rights.”

District 56 (No primary)

This district includes parts of Orange County, including Carrboro and Chapel Hill. With one Democrat and one Libertarian filing, there will not be a primary.

Incumbent Democrat Allen Buansi is seeking a third term in the House. He is a civil rights attorney and former town council member in Chapel Hill, where he helped establish the town’s first Criminal Justice Debt Program. In the House, he has been an advocate for public schools and the environment; he was a primary sponsor on the bill that created the new Venus flytrap license plate. 

Matthew Clements, who is active in the state’s Libertarian Party, is the Orange County Libertarian Party Chair. He previously ran unsuccessfully for state House in 2018 and the Carrboro Town Council in 2019. According to his campaign Facebook page, his platform includes “ending certificate of need laws, abolishing the ABC system, and protecting and defending the state constitution of North Carolina.”

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Next November, millions of eyes across the country will be on North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race: will retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis’s seat flip to blue, or will Republicans retain it with someone further to the right than Tillis?

The March primaries for that race are crowded. On the Democratic side, former Gov. Roy Cooper is running against five lesser-known candidates, and on the Republican side, Trump-endorsed candidate Michael Whatley faces a surprise primary challenge from Michele Morrow plus challenges from five other hopefuls. 

Meanwhile, the Triangle’s two congressional seats—NC-02 and NC-04—sit at opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to primary action. NC-02 has one Democratic, Republican, and Libertarian candidate each, so the race will skip straight to the general election, when incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross will take on her challengers. NC-04, a solidly blue district, will most likely be decided by the Democratic primary, where incumbent U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee faces off against Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam in a revival of their 2022 race.

Here’s a look at the candidates.

4th Congressional District

Democratic Primary

Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee is seeking a third term representing North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District, which encompasses Durham and Orange counties as well as small parts of Wake and Chatham counties. Before her election to Congress, she spent over two decades in elected office, serving on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools Board, the Orange County Board of Commissioners, and in both the state house and state senate. 

In Congress, none of Foushee’s sponsored bills have been enacted into law—including legislation on gun violence prevention and clean energy technology—though in 2024 she secured over $12 million in community project funding for NC-04 in appropriations bills that were signed into law. She sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure; the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology; and was recently appointed Co-Chair of the House Democratic Commission on AI and the Innovation Economy. Her platform includes expanding access to healthcare through Medicare for All, criminal justice reform including marijuana decriminalization, climate action through the Green New Deal, codifying Roe v. Wade, raising the federal minimum wage, and expanding the Child Tax Credit.

Foushee faced criticism for accepting massive contributions from pro-Israel groups like AIPAC during her 2022 campaign; for traveling to Israel on an AIPAC-funded trip to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024; and for voicing support for Israel even as Israel bombarded Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. As the conflict raged on and constituents pressured her, Foushee signed letters calling for a Gaza ceasefire and accusing Israel of failing to meet humanitarian conditions under U.S. arms sales law; voted against a resolution declaring “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” to be antisemitic hate speech; and cosponsored the Block the Bombs Act. In August 2025, she told the INDY she would not accept contributions from AIPAC for her 2026 campaign. 

Foushee has received endorsements from a bevy of politicians including Gov. Josh Stein, former Gov. Roy Cooper, and U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross for the upcoming election.

Foushee faces a rematch against Durham County Commissioner Nida Allam who placed second in the 2022 Democratic primary with 37% of the vote to Foushee’s 46%. Allam has served on the Durham County Board of Commissioners since 2020, serving as chair from 2023 to 2025. As a county commissioner, Allam has helped create the position of Immigrant and Refugee Services Coordinator, raised the minimum wage for all county employees to $19/ hour, and worked on affordable housing initiatives. In November, she joined hundreds of volunteers monitoring Border Patrol agents in Durham, personally filming the detention of several people behind a shopping center. 

She has received endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, gun control activist David Hogg, and the youth-led Sunrise Movement, among other figures and groups. Her platform includes making public colleges tuition-free, fully funding Section 8 housing vouchers, ending Citizens United and banning congressional stock trading, and an arms embargo on Israel. Like Foushee, she supports Medicare for All and the Green New Deal, codifying Roe, and raising the federal minimum wage.

A longtime advocate for Palestinian rights, Allam has criticized Foushee’s record on Israel and believes the AIPAC money Foushee received ahead of the 2022 primary is the reason she  didn’t win.

Mary Patterson, a Durham resident, has also filed to run in the Democratic primary but has not launched a campaign website or made public statements about her candidacy.

Other candidates

Mahesh “Max” Ganorkar, a Pittsboro resident, is the Republican candidate in the NC-04 race. Ganorkar ran unsuccessfully in the 2024 Republican primary for the NC-04 seat. His platform includes expanding constitutional carry, reducing domestic violence, imposing term limits on congress members, and being an “anti-socialism warrior.” 

Guy Meilleur, a Durham-based consulting arborist, is the Libertarian candidate for the NC-04 seat. Meilleur ran unsuccessfully for the NC-04 seat in 2024 and has had three prior unsuccessful campaigns for the North Carolina House of Representatives. His platform includes reducing partisan gridlock in Congress, implementing market-driven healthcare reforms, limiting foreign military interventions, and empowering independent oversight of government spending.

2nd Congressional District (No primary)

Democratic incumbent U.S. Rep. Deborah Ross is running for a fourth term representing North Carolina’s 2nd District, which includes most of Wake County. Before her election to congress, Ross, a civil rights lawyer, worked as state director for the ACLU of North Carolina and spent over a decade in the North Carolina House of Representatives. She also ran as the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2016, losing to then-incumbent Sen. Richard Burr. 

In Congress, Ross sits on the House Judiciary Committee, the House Ethics Committee, and the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. Over a dozen pieces of legislation she’s sponsored have been signed into law, including bills to increase funding for sexual assault nurse examiners, enhance judicial transparency, and support offshore wind energy development. Ross has also secured $30 million in federal funding for Wake County community projects.

Ross was criticized for accepting AIPAC contributions during her 2022 and 2024 campaigns. In September 2025, she told the INDY she would not accept AIPAC contributions for her 2026 run.

Eugene Douglass, a Raleigh-based education consultant and retired chemistry professor, is the Republican candidate for the NC-02 seat. Douglass previously ran in the 2024 Republican primary for the NC-02 seat, placing second with 22.5% of the vote. His platform emphasizes stricter abortion restrictions, stricter immigration enforcement, and what he describes as protecting children from gender-affirming care.

Matthew Laszacs, a Cary resident, is the Libertarian candidate for the NC-02 seat. Laszacs does not yet have a campaign website for his congressional run. When he previously ran, unsuccessfully, for the North Carolina state senate in 2024, his priorities included expanding school choice through education savings accounts and transitioning the Medicaid direct payment model to a state-funded health savings account.

U.S. Senate

Democratic Primary

The frontrunner in North Carolina’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, former North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper served as North Carolina’s Attorney General for 16 years before being elected governor in 2016 and reelected in 2020. Since leaving the governor’s office in January 2025, Cooper has been teaching health policy and leadership as a fellow at Harvard University. His Senate campaign priorities include supporting the middle class, holding corporations accountable, and protecting healthcare, veterans’ benefits, and Social Security.

Also running in the Democratic primary:

• Orrick Quick, a High Point pastor whose platform includes protecting the elderly through expanded Medicare and enforced nursing home standards, defending constitutional due process, and expanding aid to the needy through school meals and housing assistance.
• Marcus Williams, a Wilmington attorney whose campaign website does not appear to have been updated since his previous runs for other statewide seats. Williams ran in North Carolina’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2022, placing fourth. He also previously ran in North Carolina’s Democratic primaries for attorney general in 2016 and governor in 2024. 
• Daryl Farrow, a Jacksonville resident whose platform is not publicly detailed. Farrow was previously the Democratic nominee in the race for North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District seat in 2020, losing to incumbent U.S. Rep. Greg Murphy.
• Justin Dues, a Concord tech consultant whose platform includes raising the minimum wage to $30 an hour and adding constitutional amendments to end gerrymandering and overturn Citizens United. Dues was previously the Democratic nominee for North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in 2024, losing to U.S. Rep. Mark Harris. 
• Robert Colon, a Wilmington resident whose platform includes reducing government spending and promoting globalization. Colon previously ran in North Carolina’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2022, placing eighth, and also ran in the Democratic primary for North Carolina’s 7th congressional district in 2020, placing third.
• Alyssia Hammond, a Raleigh social justice activist whose platform is not publicly detailed. Hammond previously ran in North Carolina’s Democratic primary for U.S. Senate in 2022, placing third.

Republican Primary

Former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley is the frontrunner in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Whatley previously worked in the George W. Bush administration’s Department of Energy, served as chief of staff to U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, and chaired the North Carolina GOP before leaving that role to chair the RNC from March 2024 to August 2025. He also helmed Trump’s 2016 campaign operation in North Carolina and helped organize the Presidential Transition’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force following Trump’s win that year. His platform is centered on job creation and higher wages, lowering taxes and costs for gas and groceries, and eliminating sanctuary cities and supporting Trump’s deportation policies. His senate candidacy has been endorsed by Trump.

Also running in the Republican primary:

• Michele Morrow, a former nurse and homeschool advocate based in Cary whose platform is not publicly detailed beyond this statement on her website: “President Trump has taken America back from the brink. Now, it’s time we take back North Carolina.” Morrow gained national prominence during her unsuccessful 2024 bid for North Carolina State Superintendent of Public Instruction for her social media posts calling for the execution of Democratic leaders and her presence at the January 6 insurrection.
• Don Brown, a Waxhaw attorney whose platform includes cutting two-thirds of nonmilitary federal personnel, eliminating the IRS and federal income tax, and prohibiting federal vaccine and mask mandates. Brown previously ran for North Carolina’s 8th Congressional District in 2024, placing fourth.
• Elizabeth Temple, a Smithfield teacher whose platform is not publicly detailed. Temple previously ran in the Republican primary for the North Carolina House’s 28th district, placing second. Temple was accused in 2019 of making offensive comments to students at a Wake County elementary school, allegations she denied.
• Thomas Johnson, a Garner business consultant and Air Force veteran whose platform includes extending religious freedom protections from COVID-era government restrictions, reforming accountability for substandard Veteran Affairs care, and reducing America’s food costs through improved cold-chain storage infrastructure.
• Margot Dupre, a Charlotte resident whose platform and background were not publicly detailed.
• Richard Dansie, Durham network security engineer and Army veteran whose platform includes ending welfare, rebuilding masculinity, and purging pornography and gender ideology “from schools and public life.”

Other candidates:

Shannon Bray is the Libertarian candidate for North Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat. An Apex Navy veteran who works in cybersecurity, Bray previously ran as North Carolina’s Libertarian nominee for U.S. Senate in 2020 and 2022. He also ran as North Carolina’s Libertarian nominee for lieutenant governor in 2024, and placed second in the state’s Libertarian primary for governor in 2024. His platform includes abolishing the Federal Reserve, legalizing drugs federally while allowing state regulation, and creating cryptocurrency-friendly policies.

Primary Day is March 3 and early voting begins February 12.

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The Durham Public Schools (DPS) board of education is getting a major shakeup this year.

Four of the board’s seven seats are up for election in Durham’s March 3 election, and only one incumbent is running to keep her seat—that leaves three wide open seats with no shortage of candidates seeking to win voter approval to fill them.

Public service is certainly a beautiful and noble calling. But it’s not exactly hard to imagine why three board members are stepping away. 

Since these seats were last up for election in 2022, the district (while still recovering from the academic impact of COVID) has dealt with a pay crisis, a transit crisis, and an enrollment crisis (the newcomers to the election are in a prime position to argue that those crises were, for the most part, avoidable).

It’s also not exactly a glamorous gig. Board members usually have full-time jobs of their own and are expected to make time for evening meetings as well as morning or afternoon committee sessions and joint meetings with other government bodies. 

Board members receive a monthly stipend of $1,667. That would be a generous amount if board members only went to the two meetings a month. In reality, board meetings often stretch late into the night and members are generally expected to attend additional sessions like meet and confer,  policy committee, and other relevant events.

Durham has high expectations for its school board members, and the public is not afraid of showing up to meetings to berate the board over its failings, whether real or imagined. As the majority-member union Durham Association of Educators has flexed its political muscles in recent years, board members have tried to navigate how to keep their educators happy without micromanaging or burning their relationship with their sole employee—the district’s executive, the superintendent.

And short of divine intervention, there is no help for DPS coming from above. The state government recently received an “F” grade from the Education Law Center, coming in second to last for overall public schools funding and the legislature continues to pump dollars away from public schools and towards charter and private schools. Trump’s federal government has worked to dismantle the department of education while providing little clarity as to who or what will carry out its former functions. 

The March school board election, although it is on the same ballot as statewide and federal primaries (including the hot-button NC-04 congressional race), is a non-partisan general election. The top vote-getter in each district will be sworn in over the summer and will get to work for the new school year in August.

Voters in each district can select one candidate for their respective board seat only. 

The best way to check your district, and your registration status, is through the state board of elections website. And the best way to keep up to date on the election is by reading INDY, as we will have candidate questionnaires, interviews, and campaign coverage starting in January.

Here are the candidates for the DPS board of education.

District 1

Dilcy Burton, Natalie Kitaif, and Davit Melikian will compete for the seat being vacated by Emily Chávez, who is not pursuing reelection after one term. In the conversations and votes over the DAE’s meet and confer policy, Chávez was notably one of the board members most aligned with the DAE. Chávez also served on the board’s policy committee, helping to prioritize and wordsmith policy before it reached the full board.

Burton has been an assistant attorney general for North Carolina’s Department of Justice since 2023. Prior to that, she worked for the Alabama Department of Labor, the NC Department of Commerce, and ran her own practice in Durham. She holds degrees from NC Central, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Liberty University in Virginia, and has had multiple roles for Delta Sigma Theta Sorority INC. She previously ran for Durham County Commission in 2012 and is the only candidate with an extremely catchy jingle (or any jingle!) on her website.

Melikian is the first vice chair of the Durham Democratic party and describes himself as a “proud product of Durham Public Schools” and the child of two public school educators. He studied operations management and finance at UNC Wilmington before working at Credit Suisse in prime brokerage. He started Durham’s first raw juice delivery business and now runs a custom home building company.

Kitaif appears to be a public health professional who formerly worked in research and consulting. She is a current PTA member, and recently appeared in The Guardian for her work in helping with food donations for immigrant families who were afraid to leave their homes during the recent federal immigration enforcement background. She does not appear to have a campaign website and as of publishing she had not responded to INDY’s request for more information. 

District 2

Nadeen Bir is challenging incumbent Bettina Umstead for the district 2 seat.

Bir is the director of finance and human resources at Press On, a media collective. Per INDY’s previous coverage, she is also the co-founder of Mothers for Ceasefire, which organized protests and demonstrations to call for an end to the war in Gaza. She does not appear to have a campaign website and as of publishing had not yet responded to a request for more information.

Umstead is finishing her second full term on the board and is the current chair. She previously served as chair from 2020-2024. Umstead previously worked at education nonprofit Student U and The Equity Collaborative, and was recently appointed to the governor’s advisory council on student safety and wellbeing. As an incumbent, she is in a position to argue that she has fought for the largest-ever budget allocations from the county, bringing in vital dollars despite the ongoing crises. She also has some other incumbent advantages—including $2,000 in the bank and probably a storage space already full of campaign signs.

Rachel Waltz, per LinkedIn, is a program manager currently working with Community Solutions. She previously worked at Orange County Housing and Community Development. She does not appear to have a website and, at the time of publishing, she had not yet responded to a request for more information.

District 3

Peter Crawford, Lauren Sartain, and Gabby Rivero are competing for the seat vacated by Jessica Carda-Auten, who won a 2023 election to fill an unfinished term. Carda-Auten, who currently chairs the policy committee, is not seeking reelection.

Crawford is a co-founder and head of operations at real estate startup Acre. He has three children currently in DPS schools, and has worked as PTA treasurer and served in special operations in the army. “We will get to good schools via disagreement, discussion, compromise, accountability—these are the hallmarks of a functioning local polity,” he wrote in an INDY op-ed regarding recent DPS dysfunction. He has also shown up at board meetings to advocate for higher standards for DPS.

Sartain is a professor of K-12 education policy at UNC Chapel Hill. She is also an E.K. Powe parent and the former PTA president of that school. Last year, Sartain became a public-comment and email regular, frequently arguing for a zero-based budgeting approach. In her past work in Chicago, she studied Chicago Public Schools and argues that DPS should be learning from the successes and mistakes of other districts

Gabby Rivero is the founder of a therapeutic dance company. She currently serves on the city’s recreation advisory committee. She does not appear to have a campaign website and at the time of publishing she had not yet responded to a request from INDY for more information.

District 4

Xavier Cason, Kristy Moore, and Jerome Leathers are vying for the seat held by outgoing four-termer Natalie Beyer. From the dais, Beyer has rarely minced her words when it comes to blaming the state for its unfriendly treatment of public schools. Especially in the second Trump administration, Beyer has taken a more cautious approach to policy compared to some of her more activist peers, which did not win her any friends in the DAE—members at one point chanted her name at a rally while calling for her to flip her vote.

Cason is a former school board member who served one term from 2016 to 2020, and left the board shortly after winning a second term to oversee wellness support initiatives for students at the nonprofit Durham Public Schools Foundation. He has worked in education for four decades, starting as a music teacher in Whiteville before working in DPS since 1997. He also has board experience for the Durham homeless service advisory committee and the Durham Pre-K advisory board, among others. He does not appear to have a website.

Beyer, who was on the board during Cason’s term, “enthusiastically” endorsed Cason as a brilliant, reflective thinker, who cared deeply for students” in a message to INDY.

Leathers is a former principal at Southern High School of Environment and Sustainability and Jordan High School. As of publishing, Leathers did not appear to have a campaign website and did not respond to INDY’s requests for more information.

Moore is a former DPS teacher, former DAE president, and former vice president of the North Carolina Association of Educators. She also worked in Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools as staffing coordinator. She currently serves as the program manager of national programs at the Hunt Institute where she plans large-scale events and builds partnerships. She was appointed to the state’s DRIVE task force to help increase teacher diversity in North Carolina public schools. She does not appear to have a website.

Early voting starts on February 12 and ends with Election Day on March 3.

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