Candidates for mayor and town commissioner met Wednesday evening at Wake Forest’s Renaissance Centre for the Arts to pitch themselves and their vision for the future of Wake Forest to voters.
The candidates forum, hosted by the Wake Forest Area Chamber’s Government Affairs Committee and moderated by New Frame CEO and “Do Politics Better Podcast” host Brian Lewis, featured eight total participants — two competing to represent Wake Forest residents as the town’s mayor and six others vying for two seats on the board of commissioners.
Mayoral Forum
The candidates for mayor — six-time incumbent Vivian Jones and current town commissioner Ben Clapsaddle — spoke first. Over the half-hour mayoral forum, the candidates each provided a two-minute introduction, before answering questions from the moderator and, finally, giving their closing arguments.
Mayor Jones gave the first introduction, in which she emphasized her many years of service in Wake Forest since first being elected mayor in 2001.
“Over the past 24 years, I have built relationships by serving on various committees and boards, including the League of Municipalities, ElectriCities, and GoTriangle,” she said, “I was also the first president of the North Carolina Mayors Association.”
She expressed her pride in Wake Forest’s growth from “that little town up there in northern Wake County that was too far from Cary or Raleigh to make any difference” to a respected member of the Triangle. But Jones stated she is most proud of showing up as mayor.
“Whether it’s an event, a meeting, or a community gathering, you know that you will see me there,” she said.
In his introduction, Commissioner Clapsaddle stressed his commitment to the people of Wake Forest.
“What you will see is my campaign isn’t about politics; it’s about people,” he said. Clapsaddle went on discuss his over 30 years of service in the United States Army, stating that in both military service and in public service as town commissioner he took the same oath to protect liberty and justice for all and uphold the Constitution.
He also claimed that this mayoral election is largely about the future of Wake Forest and how it will be led over not only the next four years, but the next 10 to 15 years as well.
“Now we’re at a crossroads — growth is going to keep coming,” he said. “But with right leadership, we can protect what makes Wake Forest special while creating new opportunities.”
Moving into the question and rebuttal portion of the forum, the candidates fielded questions from moderator Brian Lewis on topics ranging from the challenges imposed by rapid growth, such as transportation and infrastructure needs and housing affordability, to their support for a return of the town’s Christmas Parade.
When asked about how to ensure Wake Forest gets its fair share of hotel occupancy and prepared food and beverage tax revenues from Wake County, both expressed the importance of requesting it from the county.
Jones noted that they “have gotten it whenever we have asked for money. We’ve gotten it two or three times when we’ve asked for it.” Jones asserted that Wake Forest doesn’t receive a steady stream of said money because the town primarily uses the tax revenues for many smaller projects rather than a “great, big, huge project” preferred by the county.
Clapsaddle largely agreed, claiming that the money primarily goes to the “big four” of Cary, Apex, Fuquay-Varina, and Holly Springs rather than towns like Wake Forest or Garner. “The mayor’s right,” he said, “We have to ask, and that’s the big thing. We have to ask.”
Clapsaddle, however, also emphasized the importance of working with county leaders and state legislators to ensure Wake Forest gets back its share of the tax revenues sent to Wake County.
Responding to a question about Wake Forest’s emergency preparedness, Clapsaddle expressed the same emphasis on collaboration. “One of the things that we have to remember is that we’re no longer that little island up north, we’re the center of a region,” he said. He went on to state the importance of the town’s agreements with other municipalities in both Wake and Franklin County and the need to further refine them.
Jones, meanwhile, noted that the town’s emergency plan is currently being updated by town staff and focused on praising Wake Forest’s first responders and utilities.
“We have an absolutely wonderful power, public power group here that takes care of our power,” she said. “They always get power back on quicker than anybody else. And we have a wonderful fire department and wonderful police department.”
On addressing affordable housing, the candidates offered differing solutions.
Jones noted the expenses associated with homebuilding from start to finish and suggested lowering the regulatory burden of the planning process could lower prices. “And I think that the town needs to, one thing that we could do is to try to make our planning process less burdensome to developers, and then that would help to bring down the cost of housing,” she said.
Clapsaddle, however, stated that housing prices have risen across Wake County and won’t decline until the amount of available housing meets demand. In the meantime, he pointed to his record of supporting affordable housing as a requirement for new developments. “I’ll just say that every project in the last 18 months that I voted yes on, every one of them had workforce housing or senior housing as part of the conditions,” he said.
One interesting moment came when Lewis asked Commissioner Clapsaddle about his most meaningful joint achievement with Mayor Jones and how the outcome would have differed if he, rather than Jones, had been mayor.
Clapsaddle did not answer the latter half of the question but did list the passing of the Wake County Non-Discrimination Ordinance in Wake Forest as his most meaningful achievement. He lauded Wake Forest for allowing the ordinance to pass and sending zero complaints since its passing, stating “that shows the character of our town.”
Jones, who had found herself in some controversy earlier that day after reversing her decision to proclaim October “LGBTQ History Month” in the Wake Forest, took the opportunity during her rebuttal time to affirm her commitment to nondiscrimination. “I don’t really have a response to that,” she said, “I mean, I’m glad we passed that ordinance; I think that is very good. We needed to work with the county on that.” She went on to say, “I believe in nondiscrimination. I believe in everyone having a say.”
In their final statements to the audience, each candidate thanked the audience and event coordinators and made a final request for the voters’ support.
Jones claimed that, over 24 years as mayor, she had stayed true to her values, including a focus on creating a better future for all of Wake Forest, earning the public’s trust daily through honesty and consistency, and bringing the community and state together to solve problems.
Clapsaddle insisted that Wake Forest could become a town “where every voice matters” and emphasized his commitment to representing every voice in Wake Forest and building a future that residents’ children and grandchildren will be proud of.
Commissioner Forum
Following a brief intermission, the six candidates for town commissioner took to the stage for a roughly hour-long commissioner forum. The field included two incumbents — R. Keith Shackleford and Nick Sliwinski — and four challengers. Among them were businessman Thomas Dement, attorney Haseeb Fatmi, grandmother and GO Wake Forest driver Pamela James, and former elementary school teacher Jasmine Zavala.
With only one minute for introductions, 90 seconds to answer questions, and room for only 3 30-second rebuttals per question, the candidates faced an uphill struggle to define their campaigns and win over voters in a crowded field.
The incumbents, Shackleford and Sliwinski, touted their material achievements while defending their records against the challengers.
Shackleford noted that he is now an experienced commissioner, having learned much over the past four years, but also touted his service on several other boards in the past, including the Wake County Housing Authority and Chamber of Commerce, among others. He would later reemphasize the importance of his experience on the board, noting that “when you first are sitting on this stage as a candidate and you have not served, you really don’t know a thing. You think you do, but you don’t.”
Shackleford was also the more aggressive of the two incumbents when it came to defending his record and the actions of the Board of Commissioners. In one particularly assertive response during his closing statement, he addressed Thomas Dement’s assertion that a particular tolling recommendation he made to the mayor and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization “did not support Wake Forest.” Shackleford asserted the board’s request for CAMPO to run numbers on a toll road forced the state government to address town concerns that had previously been delayed. He ended his response with a challenge of his own: “So tell me, what are you going to change?”
Sliwinski echoed Shackleford’s sentiment that he “didn’t even know what [he] didn’t know” when he first ran for commissioner four years ago. He claimed that what set him apart from the rest of the field was his approach to the role of commissioner.
“I believe leadership is not about working just to make decisions for people,” he said, “but to make decisions with people.” He promised to build upon the relationships with constituents established during his first term if reelected.
Following that theme, Sliwinski responded to a question about government transparency by asserting that the town does especially well in communicating with and providing information to its residents. Lauding the work of the town’s communication department, he said, “If you don’t know what’s going on in Wake Forest, why not?”
James voiced some disagreement with that notion, however, claiming that many of the particulars of town governance are difficult for the common layperson to understand and promising to be an upfront and honest bridge between the government and residents. When defining her campaign, she said, “I’m not a politician, I’m the average citizen who believes that common sense, respect, transparency, and listening to our residents should guide every decision we make.”
James revealed that she and her husband had considered moving out of Wake Forest, with worsening traffic and property taxes among their motivating factors. Consequently, she expressed her desire to focus on “issues that affect everybody” if elected, including traffic, minimizing taxation, slowing development, and services for children and seniors.
Like James, Zavala focused on community involvement with government during the forum. Answering a question about the relationship between the town of Wake Forest and Wake County Public Schools, she suggested that local government could partner with nonprofits and the local community to “fill the gaps” left by the county. Additionally, she used one of her rebuttal opportunities to explain to the audience the purpose and function of the town’s Unified Development Ordinance and various specific and comprehensive plans in hopes of ensuring public understanding of government.
Collaboration was the major theme of Zavala’s responses. She agreed with the incumbents’ claim that candidates lack knowledge but emphasized how she would collaborate with town staff and other experts to make up the difference as a newly elected commissioner.
Fatmi, by contrast, described his campaign as a continuity with his past endeavors rather than a bold new step. After describing his work with Social Security and as a Special Assistant United States Attorney, he stated that “the reason I’m running is because I want to continue that public interest and that civil service to serve my community.”
In his responses, Fatmi emphasized his belief in the power of the board of commissioners and local government to effect change in Wake Forest, especially through refinement of the UDO. Such suggested improvements included specific zoning for hospitals and encouraging commercial growth in specific areas. He also emphasized the board’s soft power, through which they could leverage relationships to ensure needs are met in areas where the town lacks official jurisdiction.
Dement, however, expressed his desire to reduce the tax and regulatory burden on Wake Forest residents. He stated that, in his conversations with voters, they said “they’re tired of commissioners running for reelection that have not been listening to them.” He would then go on to criticize both incumbents on stage for voting for a tax rate that was not revenue neutral in 2024 and for recommending a toll road to the mayor and CAMPO in 2025. At another point in the debate, he further criticized bond referenda to fund community amenities.
Dement emphasized the impact of rapid growth and high-density housing developments on Wake Forest’s roads and schools. He instead voiced his support for limiting growth, “maintain[ing] and expand[ing] the continuity of our conventional residential neighborhoods,” and conducting road and school impact studies for high-density developments. Dement concluded by saying, “I promise common sense leadership to be a fiscally responsible steward of your tax dollars.”
Following the board of commissioners candidates’ closing arguments, all eight candidates remained at the Renaissance Centre for a meet and greet with voters. The candidates still have just under two months to campaign before voters make their final decision on Nov. 4.