After a decade of service to the City of Winston-Salem, Northwest Ward representative Jeff MacIntosh has decided against seeking re-election when his term as a city council member expires in 2024. 

In an interview with TCB, MacIntosh said he believes that it is time for him to step down so as to make way for new leadership. 

“I am really hoping that announcing early will bring lots of candidates out of the woodwork to think about running,” he said. “It’s a difficult job, it takes some time to figure out whether or not you’re interested in doing it.”

A Democrat, MacIntosh first took a seat on council in 2013, when incumbent Wanda Merschel, also a Democrat, chose not to run again after serving four terms. Merschel endorsed MacIntosh in her stead when he faced off against two other candidates during the Democratic primary. MacIntosh went on to defeat Republican Lida Calvert-Hayes in the general election. Merschel represented the Northwest Ward for 16 years and passed away in 2020 after a prolonged illness.

Jeff MacIntosh

MacIntosh ran again in 2016 against Republican Eric Henderson, with MacIntosh sweeping 61 percent of the vote. 

MacIntosh ran unopposed in 2020, currently serving as the chairman of the Public Works Committee and bringing his expertise as a real estate agent to the table as a member of the Finance Committee. 

As his tenure on the council comes to a close, MacIntosh says he feels like he’s accomplished a lot of what he set out to do and that he certainly has things left to achieve.

As for his plans after his term ends, MacIntosh says he’s not sure. “I’ve tried retirement once; it did not suit me well. So I imagine that something will pop up between now and then.”

During his time in office MacIntosh has been an advocate for alternative forms of public transportation as well as affordable housing, and hopes to stay engaged in the causes he cares about even after he leaves his role as a council member. 

“I find it hard to believe that with some of the things I’m really passionate about, like affordable housing; I don’t think I’m just going to be able to step away from that entirely,” he says. “It’s a big arena and it needs an awful lot of attention. So I think I’ll be able to continue to be helpful with that.”

All CityBeat reporting content is made possible by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, available to republish for free by any news outlet who cares to use it. Learn More ↗

Republish this story 🞬

Republishing Content

All content created for the CityBeat— photos, illustrations and text — is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives 4.0 license (CCA-ND).

These republishing rules DO NOT apply to all of our content. The CityBeat is a nonprofit-funded position that specifically reports on city council business in Winston-Salem and Greensboro.

You are free to republish all content from the CityBeat under the following conditions:

  • Please copy and paste an html tracking code into articles you post online, allowing us to access analytics on our work.
    It can be dropped onto the page right beneath the copyable content, available below.

    If your site is using Google Analytics already:

    <script>
    gtag('config', 'UA-49884744-1');
    gtag('event', 'page_view', {
        page_title: 'W-S City Council Rep. Jeff MacIntosh will not seek re-election in 2024',
        page_location: 'https://triad-city-beat.com/w-s-city-council-rep-jeff-macintosh-will-not-seek-re-election-in-2024/',
        send_to: 'UA-49884744-1'
    });
</script>

    If your site is not using Google Analytics: 

    <script async src="https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtag/js?id=UA-49884744-1"></script>
<script>
    window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];
    function gtag(){dataLayer.push(arguments);}
    gtag('js', new Date());
    gtag('config', 'UA-49884744-1');
    gtag('event', 'page_view', {
        page_title: 'W-S City Council Rep. Jeff MacIntosh will not seek re-election in 2024',
        page_location: 'https://triad-city-beat.com/w-s-city-council-rep-jeff-macintosh-will-not-seek-re-election-in-2024/',
        send_to: 'UA-49884744-1'
    });
</script>

  • Please use our bylines with attribution to Triad City Beat with a live link to our website: "by Gale Melcher/Triad City Beat"
  • At the bottom of the article (print or web) please include this text (links may be hyperlinked online):

    "Triad City Beat is an independent, for-profit news source serving the cities of the NC Piedmont Triad in Guilford and Forsyth counties, online at triad-city-beat.com.
    CityBeat content is funded by a grant from the NC Local News Lab Fund, online at nclocalnews.org."

  • If you have any questions, please contact Brian Clarey at [email protected]

Join the First Amendment Society, a membership that goes directly to funding TCB‘s newsroom.

We believe that reporting can save the world.

The TCB First Amendment Society recognizes the vital role of a free, unfettered press with a bundling of local experiences designed to build community, and unique engagements with our newsroom that will help you understand, and shape, local journalism’s critical role in uplifting the people in our cities.

All revenue goes directly into the newsroom as reporters’ salaries and freelance commissions.

⚡ Join The Society ⚡