FAYETTEVILLE — Ashley Kingsfield, 21, stood outside Kiwanis Recreation Center Tuesday afternoon talking with campaign volunteers as she considered her options. 

Kingsfield attends Fayetteville Technical Community College, where she serves as president of its chapter of Turning Point USA—a conservative youth organization founded by the late right-wing activist Charlie Kirk and known for its efforts to mobilize young voters on college campuses.

She said TPUSA recently held a voter registration event on FTCC’s campus and invited all candidates running in Fayetteville races to attend. Only one showed up: Kenneth E. Odegard II, who is running against incumbent Derrick Thompson for the District 6 Fayetteville City Council seat.

While TPUSA is a partisan group, Fayetteville’s municipal elections are officially nonpartisan, meaning candidates do not run under party labels.

TPUSA’s goal for the FTCC event was to encourage students to register to vote and to stress that municipal elections have a direct effect on their daily lives, Kingsfield told CityView.

“Honestly we didn’t have a great turnout for that,” she said, referring to student participation. 

As of Tuesday afternoon, Kingsfield said she was still deciding who to vote for in the races for Fayetteville mayor and her council member. She said she focuses on one issue above all others when choosing a candidate.

“My number one issue is abortion,” she said. “I’m very pro-life. So that’s my very big one.”

At 1:15 p.m. on Election Day at the Hope Mills Recreation Center, Commissioners Joanne Scarola and Bryan Marley and candidate Ronald Starling were staffing their campaign booths. 

Scarola, who had been at the election precinct for a couple of hours, described early turnout as “decent but slow” and expected it to increase around 4 p.m. when people get off work.

Over the course of an hour, about 20 voters came and went. At least three were turned away due to lack of registration within the town or county.

Some voters were surprised to learn the municipal election is nonpartisan, with several expecting to vote a straight-party ticket.

Voter voices

• Crystal Vinson, a resident since 1997, said she and her husband have been following local politics and feel “everything is going great.”
• Alice Baldwin, a 20-year Hope Mills resident, admitted she hasn’t followed town politics closely and voted for one candidate because “they just gave me their card.”
• Ronald Starling, a commissioner candidate, has been at his booth since 7 a.m. He reported strong early turnout that later slowed but expected an afternoon surge. He said feedback from voters has been positive.
• Mary Bristol, a three-year resident voting for the first time in Hope Mills, said she hasn’t followed politics closely but had a few candidates in mind. Minutes later, she added: “It doesn’t take long if you know what you’re doing.”
• Jacob and Samantha Whitmill, married residents of 12 years, described voting as “easy and smooth.” Both said they’ve kept up with local politics and arrived with clear choices.
• Marshall Hartsfield, a 34-year resident, said he wished he had paid closer attention to the candidates. He arrived expecting a straight-ticket option and was surprised to learn the election was nonpartisan.

Mayor’s update

Mayor Jessie Bellflowers, who said he had been present since polls opened, returned just after 2 p.m. from a lunch break. 

“It was really kicking earlier,” Bellflowers said about voter turnout. 

Bellflowers said some commissioners will watch election results as they come in Tuesday night at the group’s usual spot at Dirtbag Ales Brewery & Taproom on Corporation Drive.

FAYETTEVILLE — Standing outside the Cliffdale Recreation Center, campaign volunteer Gary Maher reflected on how different today feels compared to past elections. 

Maher is volunteering for Joe McGee, who is challenging incumbent Deno Hondros for the District 9 Fayetteville City Council seat. Maher has been volunteering at precincts since 2016 and said some presidential election years were tense.

“I saw my role really as trying to tamp down the fire and bring some calm to the situation,” he said, adding, “in the past, we did need to call on the Fayetteville police to come down and mediate the situation.”

Looking around at the quiet scene Tuesday afternoon, Maher said local elections tend to feel different.

“In local elections like this, it really tends not to be significantly partisan,” he said. “So normally it’s very cordial, very friendly. You normally don’t have the same amount of competitiveness or partisanship that you have every four years.”

Maher added that voters and campaign workers at Cliffdale have all been respectful.

“Having free and fair elections without fear of intimidation is a bedrock principle,” he said.

FAYETTEVILLE — Outside the Cliffdale Recreation Center, one of the busiest polling places on Fayetteville’s west side, campaign volunteers are keeping watch as voters trickle in during the afternoon lull.

Chris Graves, a campaign volunteer for mayoral candidate Kathy Jensen, has been stationed outside the center since before 6:30 a.m. He told CityView he plans to stay until polls close at 7:30 p.m.

Graves said the day began with a long line out the door, but momentum didn’t carry into the afternoon. “This is probably our slowest point right now,” he said around 1 p.m., noting that the expected lunch rush never materialized. During the hour a CityView reporter was on site, only about four voters were observed walking in and out.

Graves estimated that more than 100 people had been turned away for arriving at the wrong polling place. “People are either confused because this was an early voting site or they said they have come here before to vote but I guess their district changed,” he said.

On Election Day, registered voters must cast their ballot at their assigned polling place, which may differ from early voting locations. More information about Election Day voting can be found on the NC State Board of Elections website. 

Mayoral candidate Kathy Jensen stopped by the site around noon to check on her poll workers. “I have a small but mighty team. I am very grateful to them,” she said.

Graves said his support for Jensen is rooted in her values: “Because I like who she is and what she stands for, and I feel that we do need change.” He sees his role more as a presence than a persuader: “I inform them [voters] about her, but hopefully they do their due diligence before they come out here.”

As for voter concerns, Graves said he’s heard people mention “stormwater infrastructure, housing development, and more activities for the kids to keep them out of trouble.”

FAYETTEVILLE — Mayoral candidate Kathy Jensen stopped by the Cliffdale Recreation Center around noon today, checking in on volunteers stationed outside the polling site. Jensen, who currently serves as Fayetteville’s mayor pro tem representing District 1, said the campaign has been “a long haul” marked by “peaks and valleys.”

“I’m going around just trying to—especially where I have poll workers—make sure that they’re taken care of, make sure they have their food and things,” she said. “I’m trying to focus on today and then whatever happens tomorrow.”

Jensen said she has not spoken recently with Mayor Mitch Colvin, who she is challenging for the city’s top job. The two used to meet once a week as mayor and mayor pro tem, she said.

“We haven’t had a mayor, mayor pro tem meeting since he decided to run,” Jensen said. “I don’t know where his head is at.”

As the race enters its final stretch, Jensen said she’s keeping her attention on the voters and the finish line.

“I’m just focused on getting through today, and then tomorrow starts a new day,” she said. “I have one list if I win. One list if I don’t.”

LINDEN – At the Linden Community Building on Tuesday morning, no candidates or campaign workers stood outside the election precinct with campaign literature or last minute entreaties for voters.

There was no line of voters. As of 9:45 a.m., only four had cast ballots. Another eight had tried to vote, but they do not live inside the town limit, so they cannot participate in the town’s election.

Or, as Chief Precinct Judge Debby Smith put it, they don’t live within three blocks of the community building. Linden, which had a population of 136 in the 2020 census, covers about a half a square mile on the northern edge of Cumberland County.

Tuesday is Election Day, and heated races in Fayetteville and Hope Mills may drive voters to the polls in what normally is a low turnout affair as voters in Cumberland County’s nine municipalities pick their next leaders.

The Board of Elections reported that 7,268 people participated in early voting for this election, vs. 4,674 people in the 2023 municipal election. That’s a 55.5% increase.

Here’s what you need to know if you are casting your vote today.

Three Fayetteville City Council members say Mayor Mitch Colvin and his allies postponed Monday’s council meeting until Nov. 10 to prevent a politically fraught topic—contractors’ abandonment of six construction projects—from being discussed less than 24 hours before Election Day.

The three council members also question whether the vote to postpone the meeting was conducted legally.

The council is to discuss at the postponed meeting whether the city should ask the office of State Auditor Dave Boliek to conduct an audit of the projects.

Freddie de la Cruz, who placed fifth in Fayetteville’s 10-candidate primary election for mayor, has launched a write-in campaign to challenge primary winners Mitch Colvin and Kathy Keefe Jensen.

“I’m just putting my name out there to give people an option other than the status quo,” de la Cruz told CityView on Friday. “There’s two Democrats on the ballots. The people in favor of the Republicans want to vote for a Republican. They want to vote for a mayor that’s a Republican. They can come out and vote for Freddie.”

The last time Fayetteville saw a serious write-in campaign in its city council elections was 2019, when the Cumberland County Democratic Party advanced Dominique Ashley against independent District 3 incumbent Tisha S. Waddell. Waddell won with 75.75% of the vote.

Fayetteville mayoral candidates poured wildly different amounts into their campaigns before the primary earlier this month. Some raised six figures and spent tens of thousands on professional consultants, billboards, and digital ads. Others relied on personal loans, retiree support, or grassroots donations under $50. 

Data analyzed by CityView from campaign finance reports covering the 2025 municipal election cycle shows the final vote tally didn’t always reflect the size of the war chest.

Incumbent Mayor Mitch Colvin, the front-runner in the primary, leaned on a mix of personal loans and a tight circle of high-dollar donors. His challenger, Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Keefe Jensen, leads the field in fundraising. She built her campaign on real estate and development money, outspending Colvin nearly two-to-one but drawing less than half his votes. 

Mayor Mitch Colvin and Council Member Kathy Keefe Jensen emerged Tuesday night as the top vote-getters in Fayetteville’s 2025 mayoral primary, advancing to the general election on Nov. 4. 

The race drew 10 candidates, the city’s largest mayoral field in recent memory, amid a backdrop of political tension, personal accusations, and shifting alliances.

Contenders included longtime civic leaders, small business owners, and first-time candidates, all vying for a seat that shapes Fayetteville’s approach to public safety, housing, infrastructure, and economic development. 

As part of our 2025 election coverage, CityView sent out questionnaires to candidates running in this year’s municipal elections in Hope Mills.

Hope Mills did not have a primary election. The general election is on Nov. 4.

As part of our 2025 election coverage, CityView sent out questionnaires to candidates running in this year’s municipal elections in Fayetteville.

Fayetteville will have a primary election on Oct. 7. Early voting began on Sept. 18 and ends on Oct. 4.

In the primary, all candidates of all political registrations will run against each other. The top two vote-getters from each race will advance to the general election on Nov. 4.

As part of our 2025 election coverage, CityView sent out questionnaires to candidates running in this year’s municipal elections in Fayetteville.

Fayetteville had a primary election on Oct. 7. The top two vote-getters from each race advanced to the general election on Nov. 4.