Ahead of the November 4, 2025 Municipal Elections, the media partnership of WECT, WHQR, and Port City Daily are hosting a pair of forums featuring candidates running for mayor and city council seats in Wilmington.
The forums will take place at the WHQR Studio at 254 Front Street in Wilmington on Wednesday, October 8. The first forum featuring candidates running for three open seats on Wilmington City Council will start at 6:00 p.m., and will be followed by the three mayoral candidates beginning around 7:00 p.m..The forums will be streamed live on the WECT News website, news app, Facebook page, and YouTube channel.
WECT’s Jon Evans will moderate both forums, with reporters from each media organization asking questions to the candidates. The public is encouraged to send questions to newsroom@wect.com, staffnews@whqr.org, or info@portcitydaily.com, where they will be included and asked if time permits.
Candidates running for mayor, in alphabetical order, are: Jonathan Barfield, Billy Craig, and Bill Saffo. Candidates for city council, in alphabetical order, are: Clifford Barnett, Chakema Clinton-Quintana, Richard Collier, J.C. Lyle, Kelly Roberts, Cassidy Santaguida, and Luke Waddell. Sean Guerrero filed to run as a council candidate but later stopped his campaign for work and personal reasons. However, his name will be on the ballot.
One-stop early voting for the November Municipal Election begins on Thursday, October 16 and runs until 3 p.m. on Saturday, November 1. To check early voting locations, dates and times for your county, please click here to visit the North Carolina State Board of Elections website.