With all precincts reporting by around 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night, Democratic candidates in the City of Wilmington had secured three council seats and the mayor's office by comfortable margins. If results hold, the city's elected leadership will be completely Democratic.
Mayor Bill Saffo won reelection to a tenth term. He defeated fellow Democrat Jonathan Barfield, Jr., a longtime county commissioner, and Republican challenger Billy Craig, a veteran law enforcement officer, by comfortable margins. In the three-way race, with Democratic voters clearly divided, Saffo won just shy of 50% of the vote, with twenty points over Craig, and nearly thirty points over Barfield.
Saffo received the New Hanover County Democratic Party's endorsement over Barfield as part of NHCDP's straw poll process. Sometimes called "mayor for life," Saffo is still the city’s longest-serving mayor.
Council candidates J.C. Lyle, Cassidy Santaguida, and Chakema Clinton-Quintana took the top three spots for council, all within a percentage point of each other. All three were endorsed by the New Hanover County Democratic Party.
Incumbent Republican Luke Waddell, who was the top vote getter when he won election to his first term on council in 2021, fell in fourth place. He trailed Clinton-Quintana by about a point, or just under 900 votes. Waddell was followed by Republican Richard Collier. Both had party support from the New Hanover County GOP and significant fundraising: Waddell raised over $132,000, and Collier raised over $85,000, considerably more than the contributions brought in by Democratic candidates.
Two-term incumbent Democrat Clifford Barnett, who did not receive a party endorsement, and Republican Kelly Roberts, who only received his party’s support in the final weeks, fell toward the bottom of the list. Republican Sean Guerrero, who was endorsed by the NHCGOP early on, cancelled his campaign due to personal reasons.
This is the second time the local Democratic party has used a straw poll to whittle down its slate for the city, which is technically non-partisan, but still sees significant involvement from both local parties. In 2023, the NHCDP's initial use of the straw poll garnered criticism, but the party's slate won all three seats on council; this year's repeat sweep means Democrats now hold all council seats and the mayor's office.
Voter turnout was up this year from 2023. Early voting boomed by roughly 50% for races across New Hanover County, and overall was up by about 6 points, with over 6,000 more ballots than the last round of elections for Wilmington and the beachtowns.
While the margins for the preliminary results don’t support any clear opportunities for recount requests, the vote totals will not be final until the canvass next Friday, November 14. That’s when the county’s election board approves a final vote tally — a process that has shifted the election outcome in the past.
