Mayor Janet Cowell won with 82% and both $101.5 million bonds passed. Sana Siddiqui is the one new face on City Council. Unofficial results for every city race.
Raleigh Mayor Janet Cowell won a four-year term Tuesday with 81.7% of the vote. Voters also approved both city bonds, $101.5 million for housing and $101.5 million for transportation.
Every City Council member on the ballot kept their seat. Sana Siddiqui won the second at-large seat and will be the only new member of the council.
All 109 Raleigh precincts had reported in the North Carolina State Board of Elections unofficial results by Wednesday morning. The results are unofficial until the Wake County Board of Elections certifies them at its canvass, set for 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 13, on the county’s elections page.
Mayor
| Candidate | Votes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Janet Cowell | 141,393 | 81.7% |
| Ashleigh Heath Armstrong | 29,667 | 17.1% |
| Write-ins | 2,049 | 1.2% |
City Council
The at-large race was a vote for two. Under the city’s new staggered terms, first place wins a four-year term and second place a two-year term.
| Seat | Winner | Votes | Runner-up | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| At-large, 4-year term | Stormie Denise Forte | 111,618 | ||
| At-large, 2-year term | Sana Siddiqui | 97,302 | Clark Rinehart | 44,860 |
| District A, 4 years | Mitchell Silver | 22,287 (60.5%) | Whitney Hill | 14,418 (39.1%) |
| District B, 4 years | Megan Patton (unopposed) | 29,276 | ||
| District C, 2 years | Corey Branch | 23,362 (71.8%) | Jared S. Ollison | 9,040 (27.8%) |
| District D, 2 years | Jane Harrison | 22,079 (81.2%) | Jevon Smith-Cook | 4,939 (18.2%) |
| District E, 2 years | Christina Jones | 27,461 (70.0%) | Marc Scruggs | 11,633 (29.7%) |
Joshua Bradley finished fourth at-large with 43,098 votes. Siddiqui takes the at-large seat held by Jonathan Lambert-Melton, who was not on the ballot. The council’s current members are listed on our city hall contacts page.
District A was the closest city race, with Silver ahead by 7,869 votes.
The two bonds
| Question | Yes | No |
|---|---|---|
| Housing bond, $101.5 million | 120,377 (64.9%) | 65,090 (35.1%) |
| Transportation bond, $101.5 million | 127,068 (68.3%) | 58,884 (31.7%) |
The housing money is planned for affordable housing, redevelopment of city-owned sites, homelessness response and homebuyer help. The transportation money is planned for three road projects, sidewalks and bikeways under the city’s “Big Jump” program, and traffic calming. The city said these are planned uses and may change within the limits of the bond orders. The full breakdown is in our ballot guide.
Also decided on Raleigh ballots
These are partisan races, from the same unofficial state results. Wake County figures are for all 216 county precincts.
- U.S. Senate: Democrat Roy Cooper won statewide with 58.7% over Republican Michael Whatley’s 39.1%. Cooper took 72.7% in Wake County.
- U.S. House District 2: Democrat Deborah K. Ross won with 75.1%.
- U.S. House District 4: Democrat Valerie P. Foushee won with 79.1% across the district.
- U.S. House District 13: Democrat Paul Barringer beat Republican incumbent Brad Knott, 159,981 votes to 152,329 across the district.
- Wake County sheriff: Willie Rowe won with 70.5%.
- Wake County commissioners at-large: Mona Singh and Christine Kushner won the two seats.
- Wake County school and community college bonds: both passed, with 63.4% and 62.7% yes.
- State constitutional amendments: all three passed statewide: photo ID for voting, a 3.5% cap on the state income tax rate and a property tax levy limit. Wake County voters rejected the photo ID amendment, 53.2% against, and narrowly backed the other two.
What it means for you
- No tax increase is planned for the bonds. The city said before the vote that the bonds would not require a property tax increase, and the ballot disclosure put the direct tax impact at $0. Your current bill is explained on our property taxes page.
- The count can still move a little. The state’s results file shows no provisional ballots yet counted in the city contests. Those are reviewed before the Nov. 13 canvass. No city race is close enough for that to change a winner on the current figures.
- Three council seats return in 2028. Districts C, D and E, and the second at-large seat, are two-year terms this time, under the switch to four-year terms adopted in 2024.
- Countywide results, including the Wake County Board of Commissioners, sheriff and school board races, are on the state’s Wake County results page.
Registration and voting information stays on our voting page.
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