Ben Schachtman: So, Nikolai – lots of people were watching the Wilmington city council race, but you’ve been telling me there were some pretty competitive races across the river as well. Let's start with Leland. How did the race for town council go this year?
Nikolai Mather: So we had two seats open this year, and one incumbent – councilmember Bill McHugh – running against four political newcomers. And it looks like McHugh actually lost his seat this year. He came in third place following Frank Pendleton and Leland Hyer.
BS: Wow. I know that the town council elections for Leland are nonpartisan, so you can't necessarily place these candidates in traditional Democratic/Republican categories. But what do you think these results might indicate about Leland?
NM: Well, all three candidates shared a lot of concerns: they worried about overdevelopment, about open burning, about flooding. But they do diverge in pretty major ways. Take affordable housing. McHugh is a fairly outspoken advocate for it – he blames the workforce shortage in Brunswick County on a lack of affordable housing. Pendleton takes a different view – he thinks that affordable housing may contribute to overdevelopment in Leland. Here's what he had to say at an October candidate forum:
Frank Pendleton: I think affordable housing is an important issue, and I think it's all something that we should all look at and be concerned about. But again, I circle back to a point I made a moment ago. You can't develop affordable housing at the expense of the residents.
At that same forum, Hyer said that the free market would take care of the issue.
It's hard to say what exactly made the tides turn against McHugh in this way, but I do wonder whether the budget fiasco from last year had something to do with it. A lot of the folks who spoke out against a 70% increase went on to get politically involved with the Hyer and Pendleton campaigns, so even though it's been a year and a half since the budget proposal, it doesn't surprise me that a lot of folks swung for more fiscally conservative candidates over the incumbent.
BS: Got it. Well, let's move on to another contentious race: Southport. That was another pretty big upset.
NM: That's right. Former mayor Joe Pat Hatem is now officially back in the saddle. Hatem lost to the current mayor Rich Alt back in 2023 by just a couple of votes, and when they faced off again this year, Hatem got 400 more votes than Alt.
BS: I’ve heard people go as far as calling it a political grudge match. But, ok, so let's break this down: why do you think folks went for Hatem this time?
NM: So Hatem has campaigned pretty hard on a message of civility, which he says is something that's been lacking in both Mayor Alt's conduct and in local politics generally as of late. Hatem has also been pretty outspoken on a property dispute he has with the city of Southport – Hatem says he owns an alleyway that's been allegedly abandoned by the city, Alt says he doesn't, and Hatem says Alt is picking a fight with him over it for political reasons.
I think the shooting has weighed pretty heavily on everyone's minds, and I can see how a message emphasizing civility might fare better in Southport right now.
BS: As opposed to, like, a campaign emphasizing fiscal responsibility and attention to detail.
NM: Well, that message didn't totally suffer during the election. So Rich Alt is one of three candidates backed by the Common Sense Coalition – that's a group in Southport that's been pushing for fiscal conservatism, low taxes, et cetera. The other two were candidates for aldermen: Mike Crosbie, who went for Ward 1, and Paul Gross, who went for Ward 2. Crosbie lost to incumbents Karen Mosteller and Robert Carroll, but Gross won Ward 2.
BS: So it still resonated with some voters.
NM: Yes. I think it helped too that there were no incumbents in the field for Ward 2. Mosteller has been on the board of aldermen for ten years – she and Carroll are both highly respected within the community, and they'd be tough to beat any year.
BS: Although Gross isn't exactly a newcomer himself.
NM: Right. He was the interim finance director for the city.
BS: One more question, Nikolai: how was turnout this year?
NM: Ehhh… comme ci/comme ca? We got about 23% turnout this year… if you compare that to the past two municipal races, that's higher than 2023's 19% and lower than 2021's 25%. And mind you, that figure is an average of the turnout for all elections in Brunswick County.
BS: Well, there's always next year. Thank you Nikolai for your reporting!
NM: Thank you, Ben!
