Jonathan Barfield, Jr. said he had been thinking about running for mayor “for a while,” and felt the time was now right.
“There's so many things that are changing in city government — a new city manager will be chosen. A new police chief will be chosen. Our city continues to grow in a pretty rapid pace. And you know, having come from the board of county commissioners and serving at that level for 16 years, [it] has given me a comprehensive view of the entire needs of the whole entire county, which includes the city of Wilmington,” Barfield said.
Barfield narrowly lost his bid for a fifth term on the Board of Commissioners, where he served as both chair and vice chair. Barfield said the county’s frequent collaborations with the City of Wilmington gave him a sense of the challenges the city faces — from homelessness and workforce housing to community violence and food insecurity — and where the city needs to go next.
“My focus points will be the things that the city should be doing: public safety, making sure that our police officers and our firefighters have the tools and equipment they need,” Barfield said. “Looking at smart growth in our community, recognizing the development is going to come. But how can we lessen that development’s impacts on our environment, on nature? How can we protect our tree canopy here in our community?”
Barfield also noted the economic development issues like job retention and community retention — “to bring the types of jobs that will pay employees here a livable wage so they can afford to buy a home here” — were important topics, alongside the related issue of affordable housing.
Barfield, a realtor, has voiced his own concerns about overdevelopment in the past, including during the 2024 campaign. Public pushback in the city is common, and residents frequently cite development as a top concern — even as expanding the housing stock is a key approach to managing housing costs.
Barfield suggested encouraging low-impact development techniques to lessen the footprint of projects, finding smart ways to manage stormwater and preserve trees, and developing vertically — “going up, as opposed to out.”
Then there’s the elephant in the room: Wilmington’s current mayor, Bill Saffo — who hasn’t yet committed to another run. Saffo has been mayor since late 2006, the longest term of anyone in Wilmington. Last year, he told The Assembly’s Johanna Still he wasn’t done with the office. Last week, he said he was giving “serious thought” to another run, and would make an announcement “soon.”
Barfield noted that he’d spoken with Saffo about his own run, but that he couldn’t plan around Saffo.
“Bill and I talked about a month and a half ago and I shared with him, you know, my plans. You know Bill and I've been great friends for quite a while. I think he's been a tremendous leader in our community, and I think he has served our community well,” Barfield said. “I’m not sure what his plans are, but as a friend of mine told me, you can't make your plans based on what other people are doing. If you're called to do something, then you need to follow your plan and your path, and that's what I'm doing.”
While municipal races like Wilmington’s city council and mayoral races are technically nonpartisan, party affiliation is a factor. Both Barfield and Saffo are Democrats, which could divide liberal-leaning voters and potentially entice a conservative mayoral candidate. The official filing season is a long way off — it runs from July 7 to 18 – so it remains to be seen if anyone else might join the race.
