Early voting in Orange County local government elections is just a few weeks away. But one Chapel Hill Town Council member has his sights set on a primary election in 2022.

Allen Buansi is preparing a campaign to run for District 56 in the North Carolina House of Representatives. The INDY Week magazine first announced the news on Monday, with Buansi later confirming his plans to Chapelboro.

The district seat, currently held by Rep. Verla Insko, chiefly represents the area of Chapel Hill and Carrboro in the state General Assembly. But it is expected to be vacant in the next year, as Insko announced on September 15 she does not wish to run for re-election.

Buansi announced earlier in the year he would not seek re-election himself, finishing off the four-year term of his seat on Chapel Hill’s Town Council. The city attorney served just one term and told INDY Week he was stepping aside to spend more time with his newborn children.

With Insko’s announcement, though, Buansi said he believes he’ll be able to tend to family duties while mounting a campaign for a state seat opening in December 2022.

“It’s a real opportunity to take the work that we’ve been doing in Chapel Hill to the state level,” Buansi told INDY Week. “Work that is centered in making our state and our community more affordable, more accessible, more inclusive, through the state legislature.”

Buansi is not the first community member to announce plans to run for District 56. Jonah Garson, a lawyer and Chapel Hill native, stepped down from his role as president of the Orange County Democratic Party last week to begin his own campaign for Insko’s seat.

A Chapel Hill native, Buansi attended Guy B. Phillips Middle School and East Chapel Hill High School before earning his Juris Doctorate in law at the UNC School of Law. In addition to working for the City of Greensboro, he also serves as the Governor’s appointee on the statewide Local Government Employees’ Retirement Board of Trustees and on the State Board of Common Cause North Carolina.

Buansi’s seat on the Chapel Hill Town Council is one of three open seats in this fall’s election. Learn more about who has filed to run in races across Orange County here.

Photo via INDY Week/Allen Buansi.

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