Fayetteville ‘Mayor for Life?’ Mitch Colvin is looking like a fit for title after 4th win
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Is the city of Fayetteville looking at its second “mayor for life?”
Mitch Colvin won a fourth term on Tuesday, easily defeating a plucky Freddie de la Cruz in a rematch of the general election from 2022. Colvin won 65% of the vote to de la Cruz’s 35%.
Colvin, a Fayetteville native, was first elected to the council as the District 3 representative in 2013, winning re-election two years later. Then in 2017, he ran for mayor, defeating incumbent Nat Robertson by 19 points. All told, Colvin has won six straight races, none of them particularly close. That does not include primary races he also won to advance to the general elections.
Election watcher: Colvin mayor long as he wants to be
George Breece, who has observed and analyzed local races for many years, said on Wednesday he does not see the mayor losing any time soon. He compared Colvin’s tenure to the late Mayor J.L. Dawkins, whose image is captured in a monument at the corner of Hay and Pittman streets in downtown Fayetteville. Dawkins served seven terms as the city’s mayor and was often called “mayor for life” due to his popularity.
The designation now also fits Colvin, said Breece.
“I believe it without question at this point,” he said. “At this point, he is the closest ‘mayor for life’ since the days of J.L. Dawkins. I say that based on electability.”
He continued: “I believe he can hold that position until he decides to do something else, either run for something in Raleigh or Washington. I believe he is pretty locked in there.”
Breece said Colvin’s political strength showed when he easily defeated Charles Evans in what some people thought would be a close primary race last month. Evans had served 12 years with the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners, including as its chairman. He had won his seats at-large, joining a relatively short list of Black candidates to have done so, a list that includes Colvin. Evans previously served on the City Council.
Evans was perceived as a candidate who could seriously challenge Colvin for the Black vote, a key part of the mayor's base.
“You had two African Americans, both well-known vote-getters,” Breece said. “That was the first time you had them really square off like that.”
Some thought the race would get ugly — and there was some tension between the two camps.
But in the end, Colvin drew 61% of the primary vote in a four-way race that included Evans, de la Cruz and Quancidine Hinson-Gribble. Evans finished a distant third, failing to qualify for the general election.
Stable support despite rising violence, pandemic challenges
I agree with Breece’s assessment, having reached the same conclusion about Colvin for the same reasons.
Colvin’s base of support is powered by the Murchison Road area where he was reared, and where his family operates one of the city’s largest funeral businesses. His base seems to remain fully intact. This stable support has continued even as the council dealt with major challenges, including rising gun violence and the COVID-19 pandemic, which knocked off course some of the city’s most ambitious economic plans downtown.
With his fourth win as mayor, he ties Tony Chavonne, who won a fourth term but did not seek reelection.
I have no insight as to Colvin’s future plans, but my gut tells me has sights beyond the mayor’s seat.
Post-Colvin mayor’s race could be intriguing
Breece noted that when the mayor does move on, there are likely to be several interesting candidates who might throw their hats in the ring.
Kathy Keefe Jensen, who easily retained her seat in District 1 on Tuesday, has been talked about.
I believe Courtney Banks-McLaughlin is one to watch, too. She ran unopposed in District 8 this cycle.
Other races: Pounding home a message
The most surprising result for me Tuesday was not in Fayetteville but in Hope Mills, where Jackie Warner lost her bid for a seventh term as mayor to former commissioner Jessie Bellflowers in a rematch.
In Fayetteville, incumbents returned in seven district seats, all winning by big margins. Councilman D.J. Haire pulled down 81% of the vote in his District 4 race against Stuart Collick.
I noticed that Mario “Be” Benavente drew 75% of the vote in District 3 against challenger Michele Dillon. He had won by just six votes in his first race last year, when he took on incumbent Antonio B. Jones.
The losing incumbents were Shakeyla Ingram in District 2 and Johnny Dawkins (the son of J.L. Dawkins) in 5. Those were two races I wrote about recently, and in both cases, the challengers — Malik Davis in 2 and Lynne Greene in 5 — won comfortable primary victories followed by comfortable wins on Tuesday.
I have seen candidates who trailed in the primary make up the gap and win the general — but I did not see that happening this time because of the kind of competent campaigns both Davis and Greene ran.
I asked Breece about the Greene race, which got pretty testy.
He said Greene stuck to the two or three points she wanted to make during the campaign, and she made them: “She kept pounding that message.”
He said she also had a strong volunteer base.
Breece predicted: “She’s going to be a strong voice on the Council.”
Myron B. Pitts can be reached at mpitts@fayobserver.com or 910-486-3559.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Fayetteville's Colvin could be ‘Mayor for Life’ says election watcher
