Featured photo: The view of downtown Winston-Salem from Kaleideum’s rooftop. (Photo by Gale Melcher)
In Winston-Salem, there are two contested seats open on city council this year.
The races for mayor, east ward, north ward, northeast ward, south ward, southeast ward and southwest ward are all uncontested.
Below are the candidates running for each race, with incumbents listed first.
Early voting is underway and runs through Nov. 2. Election Day is on Nov. 5. Voters can register to vote during the early voting period and can cast their vote at any open polling location during that time. Find places to vote early here. All voters will have to show a valid photo ID to vote this year.
On Election Day, voters are required to go to their assigned precinct. To look up your assigned polling place, learn more about the voting laws and find your sample ballot, visit nc.gov/living/voting.
Northwest Ward
Incumbent Jeff MacIntosh, D, announced in January 2023 that he would not seek reelection.
Democrat: Regina Ford Hall
Read her full candidate responses here.
Regina Ford Hall worked for the US House of Representatives from 2009-14; now she’s the executive director of the Boston-Thurmond community network and previously served as the reintegration and youth development manager with the city of Winston-Salem, helping to coordinate the Winston-Salem Urban Food Policy Council. She was also the 12th Congressional District’s district liaison for the US House of Representatives. She worked as a program administrator for Successful Outcomes After Release, or SOAR, a city program that temporarily employs former offenders and gives them work experience in routine labor and clerical jobs.
In office, Hall wants to address issues like gun violence, poverty, climate, hunger and food insecurity and housing. The three most important issues to her are “housing, public safety, and small business support,” according to her candidate questionnaire. “I sincerely believe that social engagement is the secret sauce to starting conversations that foster creative ideas to solving some of our city’s most wicked problems such as poverty, (gun) violence, chronic homelessness, and recidivism,” she added.
Hall attended TCB’s Winston-Salem reverse town hall.
Republican: Jimmy Hodson
Jimmy Hodson is taking another shot at this seat after narrowly losing the Republican nomination to Eric Henderson in 2016. Hodson served in the US Army and has lived in Winston-Salem since 1995. He’s currently a product manager at Noregon Systems, a software development company in Greensboro. He’s also been a board member of United Family Church for more than eight years. Hodson’s top priority is public safety according to his website, and he’s “fervent about fostering economic prosperity.”
West Ward
Republican: Robert C. Clark (i)
No website
Robert Clark has been in office since 2001 and is the chair of the city council’s Finance Committee. He worked as an outside director of Triad Business Bank and is the president and owner of Leesona Industries headquartered in Burlington. The city does a “good job for the most part” in providing services, Clark stated in the candidate questionnaire he filled out for TCB, but believes that it could be doing a better job at maintaining its roads. The issue of homelessness is a “complex one that requires coordination between many stake holders including the city,” he stated. “A discussion of this topic is lengthy and complex, but I would add that it is an area that I take a person[al] interest in and support a community wide effort to address.”
Democrat: Chris Smith
Read his full candidate responses here.
A small business owner, Winston-Salem native and army veteran, Chris Smith first ran for county commission in 2020. After the race, he and a few volunteers started the Non-Discrimination Ordinance Coalition, a community advocacy organization that aims to expand non-discrimination protections in Winston-Salem, eventually helping to pass an expanded version of the city’s non-discrimination ordinance. He believes that the top three issues facing the city are affordable h
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