Chapel Hill Mayor Jess Anderson will run for a second term this summer and fall.
The mayor made the announcement on 97.9 The Hill Thursday afternoon during her weekly segment.
“It’s just been such an honor to serve the town as mayor over the past two years,” Anderson said, “and I look forward to continue leading our community forward.
“Since taking office,” she continued, “I’ve really been focused on a couple of key things. One, being implementation of our Complete Community vision. Another has been making changes to how our council does our work — which I know is kind of [policy] wonky, but is really important.”
The latter, which includes town council meetings now starting at 6 p.m. instead of 7 p.m., is meant to encourage both more civic participation and ease the burden of time on both the elected officials and town staff. The former is a broader approach to the town’s planning, using a framework adopted in 2022 that aims to put an emphasis on improved connectivity, intentional density and a variety of housing types. Since adopting that and taking over as mayor, much of the development considered and approved by the Chapel Hill Town Council includes a housing component to address the area’s lack of supply compared to demand.
Other highlights of Anderson’s tenure as mayor include the town’s voters approving $44 million in bond orders during the 2024 elections to help with affordable housing efforts, streets and sidewalks, new fire departments and extending the Bolin Creek Greenway; the town council working through a re-write of the town’s land-use management ordinance (LUMO); and directing staff through preparation of Chapel Hill’s Legion Road property for affordable housing and a park as well as 828 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard for coal ash mitigation and redevelopment.
Anderson earned election to succeed Pam Hemminger in 2023 by more than 58% of the vote over her town council colleague Adam Searing. Prior to serving as the town’s mayor, Anderson was elected to two four-year terms on the Chapel Hill Town Council — earning the most votes out of any council candidate in the 2019 cycle. Professionally, she works as a professor of practice at UNC’s public policy department and helps manage the school’s MPP capstone program after previously working as a senior policy analyst at UNC-Greensboro.
Presently, Anderson faces one other opponent who has announced plans to file for the Chapel Hill mayoral election: Chris Suttle, a marijuana lobbyist and stunt performer who was inspired to run after being involved in a Chapel Hill Transit bus crash last winter.
The filing period for the 2025 municipal election cycle in North Carolina begins the morning of Monday, July 7 and will run through 12 p.m. of Friday, July 18. Election Day will be held Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Featured photo via the Town of Chapel Hill.
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