This is a special episode, part of our 2025 election coverage. You can find more interviews, election coverage, and voter info here.
This year, there are three open seats on council — and we have eight candidates, including six challengers and two incumbents. We also have three candidates for mayor, including our incumbent mayor.
While the city council race is technically non-partisan, the local Democratic and Republican parties do play a role in supporting candidates. For city council, we have three Republican candidates, one unaffiliated candidate, and four Democratic candidates — although the county Democratic Party implemented a straw poll to narrow its support to three of those candidates — and one of the two Democrats running for mayor. We’ll have more information on all that on the show page.
On today’s show, we’re interviewing Democratic challenger Jonathan Barfield, Jr., who is running for mayor. Barfield served four terms as a New Hanover County Commissioner, including several years as chairman, before narrowly losing a reelection bid last year.
Barfield has criticized the straw poll, including during this interview, comparing it to the "Democratic Party of 1898." Barfield alleged that Jill Hopman, chair of the county Democratic Party, told him not to run and that the "seat belonged to Bill [Saffo]." Hopman disputes that account, and issued the following statement:
Since 2023, the NHCDP has used a transparent and inclusive endorsement process for municipal elections, including a straw poll where hundreds of our members decide which candidates have the strongest party support. Please read more about it here. This process isn't about picking favorites; it's about focusing our limited resources and identifying who can unite Democrats, attract unaffiliated voters, and win a general election. Every candidate has the right to run. Every eligible delegate has the right to vote in our straw poll. While it is regrettable that Mr. Barfield chose to misrepresent our conversation and refused to participate in our municipal endorsement process, that is also his right. But our party has the responsibility to support strong candidates in a strategic way, based on actual data and member input—and that is exactly what our straw poll does.
