What to know about the Woodfin mayoral election; who's running?
WOODFIN – For the first time since 2003, Mayor Jerry VeHaun’s name will not be on the Woodfin mayoral ballot after he decided to retire at the end of his term. Two candidates will be vying for the top spot in Woodfin: Jim McAllister and Jason Moore. The mayor in Woodfin can only vote if the Town Council members are deadlocked, but they can still propose legislation and act as the face of the town. The Citizen Times met with both candidates as they prepare for the race:
Who are the candidates?
McAllister, 68, is the current vice mayor of Woodfin. He grew up in Alabama and moved to Buncombe County from Texas in 2017 after a career in sales and business – business trips to Asheville showed him the town. McAllister found this part of Western North Carolina appealing because the weather is cooler and the politic appeal to him as a gay man. He has fought three different types of cancer throughout his life. McAllister moved to Woodfin’s Reynold’s Mountain neighborhood in 2019. He served as the campaign treasurer for Democratic Congressional nominee Moe Davis for the 2020 election; Davis ultimately lost to Madison Cawthorn. He was initially elected to Woodfin’s Town Council in 2021. McAllister is a ravenous UNC Asheville basketball fan.
Moore, 43, retired from the U.S. Marine Corps in February. At the time, he was working in Washington D.C. for the U.S. Department of Defense's National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. He grew up in Fort Myers, Florida, and learned about WNC because his parents took him to the area on vacation while he was growing up. Moore introduced his family to Buncombe County while he was stationed in South Carolina; when they needed to evacuate for weather events, he used his per diem to bring his family to Asheville. They moved into their house in the Olivette neighborhood September 2022. Since he has retired, he has spent the summer with his two children and his wife – they are about to go on vacation to Japan.
Why are they running?
McAllister’s introduction to Woodfin politics was through a position on the town’s Board of Adjustment where he helped oversee the town’s planning and zoning. He decided to run for Town Council because he didn’t like the way the local government was running. “I was horrified by what I found was happening at Town Hall. They were violating public meeting notices,” McAllister said in an interview. He is running for mayor because he wants to bring a new level of transparency and participation to Woodfin government.
Moore said he was looking for something to occupy his time in his retirement and wants to continue serving the public as he has throughout his career. He says the Marines equipped him for this job. He thinks that after a career working with state, federal and international bureaucracies, he is ready to the Town of Woodfin.
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"I’ve always been pretty good at navigating those bureaucracies and solving problems,” he said.
He filed for the election within an hour of the deadline July 21. Moore says he made the final decision about running the week of the deadline.
What are their priorities?
McAllister wants to be a “cheerleader.” He wants to spend time making relationships with Raleigh that he believes have strained under VeHaun’s tenure. McAllister also wants to bring some amenities to Woodfin that it currently does not have, such as certain shops, ballfields and restaurants. He says this will make the town more attractive for younger people to live in. McAllister also wants to bring affordable housing to the community.
“Woodfin is going to become younger and younger. And as we bring affordable housing. We’re going to get $700 a month one-bedroom apartments,” McAllister said. At the same time, he wants to make sure that any building that happens in the town is what he calls “smart development.” He has been a fervent opponent of controversial Woodfin developments: Robinhood and The Bluffs. McAllister has also worked to help curtail AirBnb’s from proliferating in Woodfin. He only wants to run one term because he thinks he should step away at that age.
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Moore wants to prioritize education. According to the North Carolina Center for County Research, counties are responsible for funding public schools unless there is a school district in the area, which Woodfin doesn't have. Moore wants to push for education in the area through advocacy at a county or state level. He also wants to protect the environment.
“I need to start talking to people in the community and hearing what their concerns are," he said when asked about the Robinhood and Bluffs developments. "Once I hear their concerns, I need to understand more about what we can do to either work with the developers, work with the county to make sure we have a conscientious plan going forward.”
On opening the town to more business, he said that he would be open to it, but would want to “sit down and map out the positives and negatives” before he would decide. Moore is generally against short-term rentals but would want to evaluate if adding more would be in the best interest of the community.
Woodfin Town Council
Here’s who is running for Woodfin Town Council. There are three open seats.
Joshua Blade
Elisabeth Ervin (incumbent)
Kenneth Kahn
Johanna Young
Buncombe – Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer District Trustee
Here’s who is running for the water district:
Douglass Ballentine
Lauren Edgerton
Sarah Gassaway (incumbent)
Larry Hopkins
Gordon Maybury
The election will be held Nov. 7.
This article was updated to reflect the correct last name of Johanna Young and to reflect that the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency falls under the U.S. Department of Defense.
Mitchell Black writes about Buncombe County and health care for the Citizen Times. Email him at mblack@citizentimes.com or follow him on Twitter @MitchABlack.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: What to know about the Woodfin, NC mayoral election
