Tuesday’s election formally crystalized the uncontested Carrboro Town Council races for this fall, with Danny Nowell and Cristóbal Palmer set for new terms and Fred Joiner joining the ranks of elected officials.
Palmer was the top vote-getter, with 2,573 total votes in the unofficial count for 34.12% of the vote. Nowell finished with 2,482 (32.91%) and Joiner followed up with 2,369 (31.41%). Nowell, the town’s current mayor pro tempore, will serve his second four-year term while Palmer wins his second election in two years and his first for a full term. He won a special election in 2024 to fill Barbara Foushee’s seat left vacant by her 2023 election to the mayorship. Joiner, meanwhile, will fill the seat left open by Councilor Randee Haven-O’Donnell announcing she would not seek another term after two decades of elected service.
Joiner joins elected office after serving as the Town of Carrboro poet laureate from 2019 to 2022. He told Chapelboro this fall he sees the challenging atmosphere around national politics as motivation to step up as an artist and to serve his community.
“I’ve always said that artists need a seat at the table in these kinds of conversations,” he said, “and so I said, ‘Well, here’s an opportunity for me as an artist, a creative and empathetic person, to be at the table. The other thing I think about is my elders and ancestors and some of the things they had to go through in much more dangerous times. So, I thought to myself, ‘This is an opportunity for me to show my mettle and to put my actions where my words are.'”
Joiner said his policy platform supports and builds off of the momentum Carrboro’s town council has regarding its land use ordinance changes and “Carrboro Connects” comprehensive plan. He pointed to improving affordability in the community as a key priority, specifically around housing and diversifying the town’s tax base to lessen the burden placed on residents by the property tax rates needed to fund its services. The former poet laureate also emphasized improving alternate transportation and connectivity options for residents and described his hope for helping Carrboro “lean into its creative ethos” when considering solutions to these issues and more.
Palmer said he was motivated to retain his seat and serve a full term based on his experience so far on the elected body — but also said the federal government’s recent actions weighed heavily on his mind. Knowing the clashes between President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to target immigrant communities and demonized diversity or inclusion-related efforts, Palmer said maintaining Carrboro’s values and helping residents is critical to him.
“I can say for myself, beyond doing the work of Carrboro Town Council at our public meetings,” he told Chapelboro this fall, “I will connect with my neighbors and help my neighbors connect with each other to defend our values from the abuse of fascists who have no respect for the law or justice. Carrboro is my home — this is my community. My [transgender] neighbors are my community, my immigrant neighbors are my community, my Black neighbors are my community. We will only thrive if we get through and beyond the federal abuse and overreach happening now, and we can only do that if by refusing to let them divide us. The work is defending our neighbors…all of our neighbors, without exception.”
Nowell — who currently serves as the town’s mayor pro tempore — also said he felt his connection with neighbors deepened through the campaign season as they discussed policies and town goals. He described feeling humbled and gratified to have the chance to serve a second term on Carrboro Town Council, while also citing excitement to continue working with Palmer and adding Joiner’s perspective to the elected body. In an interview with Chapelboro on Wednesday, Nowell also shared some of his reflections from Tuesday night’s election results across the country and what to take away from them on a local level during an uncontested cycle.
“I think what we see pretty much every time Donald Trump is in power that the experience of the way his movement tries to bring the system down is not what people want,” he said. “Once we get a look at what his lack of values really mean, at what it really looks like to strip government of public resources, to bully marginalized people, to create a resentful and polarized atmosphere that very little to do with people’s bottom lines… people tend to have really strong reactions.
“Locally,” Nowell concluded, “the lessons to draw [are] 1) we need to make sure people feel like their voices really materially reach decision-makers and 2) we get results that improve people’s lives. Intent and rhetoric is not enough: people need to see communities take real steps toward being more affordable in ways we can measure. People need to see people who work for a living get better lives as the result of the decisions we make.”
Carrboro Mayor Barbara Foushee also won re-election on Tuesday night, earning nearly 96% of the vote compared to her challenger Joe Lloyd Jr., who never formally campaigned against her. Foushee will once again serve a two-year term and serve as a voting member on the town council. She, as well as the trio of Joiner, Nowell and Palmer, will be sworn into their seats in December to continue serving alongside Catherine Fray, Eliazar Posada and Jason Merrill.
For results from all local elections in Orange County, click here.
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