Wake’s Democratic Party makes controversial endorsements in ‘nonpartisan’ local races | Opinion

Early voting won’t start until Oct. 17, but in Wake County a key and potentially decisive set of votes has just come in.

Those are the results of endorsements made by the 11-member executive council of the Wake County Democratic Party in races that are supposed to be nonpartisan – Raleigh City Council and the Wake Board of Education. The endorsements were announced Monday. (See the list at newsobserver.com)

In a county and city that vote heavily Democratic, the party’s endorsements will guide many voters. That’s especially true this year when a presidential and gubernatorial election will bring a wave of voters to the polls who are unfamiliar with local officials and issues.

But while party endorsements are effective, they are also problematic. For one, they add a partisan edge to governing bodies that ideally would behave in a nonpartisan manner. City operations and the running of schools should follow civic and educational standards, not party lines.

Former City Council member David Knight is critical of partisan involvement in council elections. Knight, who is unaffiliated, lost his District E City Council seat in 2022 to Christina Jones, who was endorsed by the the Wake Democratic Party.

Knight said the endorsements undermine the idea of common good that should guide city decisions. Trash collection and zoning shouldn’t be partisan issues.

The endorsements “move it more and more toward partisanship, which is not good for the governance of the city,” said Knight, who now heads a new nonpartisan group called Sustainable Raleigh.

Even on the partisan side, the endorsements can be negative. In nonpartisan races for City Council, including mayor, multiple candidates can run for a seat and often among those candidates are multiple Democrats. In City Council District C, for instance, six candidates are running, five of them Democrats. The endorsements put the party in a position of endorsing one Democrat over others.

On Aug. 9, 21 people active in politics, including former Raleigh mayors Smedes York, Charles Meeker and Nancy McFarlane, sent a letter to Wake Democratic Party Chair Kevyn Creech and the party’s executive director Wesley Knott asking that the party not endorse in local elections this fall.

“When that was done in 2022, it created a lot of divisions within the Democratic Party that have taken two years to repair and aren’t quite there yet,” the letter said.

Creech said she appreciates the concern of the letter, but the executive council thinks it’s important that voters know which candidates – including which Democrats – best represent the party’s values. Indeed, the party has expanded its endorsements to include elections in all of Wake County’s municipalities, even the obscure race for Wake County soil and water conservation district supervisor.

“I think endorsements are always important,” she said. “Wake County isn’t wall-to-wall blue. It leans blue, but it’s not wall to wall.”

Creech defends the endorsement process as involving rigorous vetting of candidates. She said it effectively serves as a Democratic primary. It determines the strongest candidate to advance the party’s priorities.

Traditionally, local elections were held in odd-numbered years without partisan overtones. But in 2011, the Wake County Democratic Party responded to a conservative takeover of the Wake County Board of Education by backing a slate of Democratic candidates, which began the party’s practice of making endorsements in nonpartisan races.

School board races moved to even-numbered years in 2016 and Raleigh’s City Council elections moved to even years in 2022. The switch increases turnout, but it also takes away the focus on municipal issues as voters’ attention is dominated by presidential and statewide races.

Both sides mean well in this debate. It’s better to have more people voting in local elections, but the party’s executive council has an outsized role in determining who wins.

What’s needed is a real primary, instead of one in which only 11 people vote. Fortunately, a nonpartisan March primary will be in place in for City Council elections starting in 2026.