Nicky Smith’s Partisan Tightrope

When Nicky Smith decided to run for Greensboro City Council in District 4, he knew it would likely be an uphill battle.

Though council elections are technically non-partisan, Smith is a registered Republican in a district that tends to lean Democratic. For more than 14 years, Nancy Hoffmann, a Democrat, has won the district handily. She is one of many long-time council members not running again this year, providing an opportunity for new leadership on the council and, Smith believes, new representation for voices that aren’t being heard in his district.

Hoffmann has not been shy about her distaste for the idea of Smith succeeding her, calling him “as MAGA as it gets.” Smith said that’s not true. He supports President Donald Trump, he said, but does not consider himself “hard right.”

During a recent Citadel church candidate forum, Smith was one of several Republican or unaffiliated candidates who abstained when asked how he would react if Trump wanted to send troops to Greensboro. But, he argues, that’s because he doesn’t consider that a local issue in the purview of the city council.

“I really think things have gotten too partisan,” Smith said in a recent interview. “I think there are a lot of national partisan issues that I guess end up getting filtered down to the state or the local level, but I don’t think that helps anybody.”

Smith’s opponent, Democrat Adam Marshall, says Smith has been the one making the District 4 race partisan since before filing began. Back in May, Smith sent an e-mail to his campaign list framing the district election in starkly partisan terms.

“The liberal establishment is already mobilizing to keep their grip on Greensboro City Council,” Smith wrote. “And they’re targeting our District 4 race.”

Smith went on to criticize Marshall for his ties to Hoffmann and former Congresswoman Kathy Manning. Smith included pictures of Marshall with both women, who Smith wrote were “quietly working behind the scenes to elect another career politician who will rubber-stamp their failed agenda.”

“This race will determine whether Greensboro continues down the path of liberal governance or gets the conservative, business-minded leadership it desperately needs,” Smith wrote.

Marshall, who has never before run for political office, said both the partisan attack and the characterization of him as a “career politician” were unwarranted.

Marshall points to the Greensboro Police Officers Association and the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, neither particularly liberal organizations, as having both endorsed his campaign.

“I think that says a lot about who is seen as someone who can work with everyone,” Marshall said.

Smith said he isn’t bothered by those endorsements and, as the primary winds down, is instead focusing on the larger themes of his own campaign.

‘A Voice For My Neighbors’

No one wants to be reduced to a political party affiliation, Smith said.

He’s a businessman and family man who didn’t consider himself particularly political until the last few years, he said. That’s when he and his District 4 neighbors banded together to push back against a multi-family development on Friendly Avenue they felt would disrupt the character of their neighborhoods and cause traffic problems.

“I’m not anti-development,” Smith said. “I am pro-development. But I’m anti putting an apartment complex three stories tall between a bunch of similar family homes. It just does not fit there. It’s like putting the Empire State Building in the middle of a residential area. You just don’t do that. So we went to battle. I mean, it was a fierce battle for two and a half years.”

Smith got a first taste of local politics—knocking on doors, rallying neighbors, organizing them to speak at city council meetings, questioning both developers and the council members. In the end, he said, they won a qualified victory. New construction did come to the Friendly area, but in the form of more single-story homes.

“What that whole thing did for me was make me feel like I had a voice, and I could be a voice for others,” Smith said. “That’s what I want. I want to be a voice for my neighbors, for my district, and the whole city. Because there are a lot of people who aren’t being heard right now.”

Housing is a growing problem in Greensboro, Smith said. But it shouldn’t be solved at the expense of established neighborhoods in the city that don’t want to see multi-family complexes change the areas where they’ve lived, sometimes for generations.

New housing also has to be affordable, Smith said—one part of addressing the growing problem of homelessness in the city. Unhoused people can be seen all over the city now, Smith said. The solution has been elusive since he first worked with Partners Ending Homelessness back in 2008, he said. He has worked with Habitat for Humanity to build new homes, but believes the city has to do more.

“When I see the Greyhound bus show up and I see him walk up the street, I’ll say, ‘Hey, where are you from?’” Smith said. “And you hear, ‘I’m from Durham, I’m from Richmond, I’m from Roanoke, I’m from Charlotte.’ I don’t understand why they’re coming here. Why are they coming to Greensboro?”

“Is the solution to build housing for them, or is it to just get them jobs?” Smith said. “Because I think they want to work. Is it to give them a short-term place? You know, I’ll give you an apartment for so long, but you gotta go find a job, and we’re gonna help you find a job. We’ve got to do something to get them back in the workforce.”

‘Are They Contributing to Our Society?’

Though he says he wants to stay out of national political issues, Smith knows the issue of how ICE agents operate in our local area is one that the Greensboro police and city council may confront for years to come.

When ICE agents are serving a deportation order on someone who is undocumented and has committed crimes in the U.S., Smith said, there’s no question they should be removed from the country.

When they are instead abducting and questioning immigrants in the country legally, as in the recent case of Greensboro’s Mohamed Naser, Smith said those are unfortunate mistakes he does not believe are common.“I don’t think that’s as big as you think it is,” Smith said. “I know it’s making the news. It is in the news all the time because someone is blowing it up and making it newsworthy. I don’t think it’s really as big.”

In cases like Naser’s, Smith said, he would use his position on council to advocate for their release. Those cases might be prevented through federal agents working together more closely with local law enforcement, he said.

The question, Smith said, is “Are they contributing to our society or are they just here taking advantage of our systems?”

In a college town like Greensboro, the Trump administration’s recent campaign to deport international students who protest against its policies while studying in the U.S. is likely to continue to be an issue. The federal government should be able to eject foreign students in the U.S. if they protest against government policies, Smith said.

“I’m not sure they should be protesting, whether it be pro-Palestinian or pro-whatever,” Smith said. “They’re guests to our country. They’ve been allowed to come as a guest, to be in a school, and we’re helping to give them an education. If I invite you to be a guest in my house, don’t come into my living room and protest about anything.”

But there are gray areas when it comes to immigration, Smith said.

“There are people that are giving to us,” Smith said. “I can’t tell you how hard they work. I hire them. I got a yard guy who does my trees. He’s here legally, but his entire team is here illegally. I don’t want illegally to be taken the wrong way. But they’re not here because they came through the border the right way. But he pays them, they’re a great team, and they work their butts off.”

“They’re contributing to society,” Smith said. “They’re spending dollars here in Greensboro. They’re renting an apartment, they’re paying their way. They’re hard-working individuals.”

In those cases, Smith said, people at the city, state, and federal levels should work together to find a way for them to stay in the U.S.

‘We Have More in Common’

While politics can be divisive and political campaigns emphasize differences, Smith said, most people in Greensboro care less about politics than they do about whether they believe the government is working on their behalf.

“We have more in common with each other, all of us, than we have differences,” Smith said. “I don’t know that being a Republican or being Democrat is as important as whether you’re making the decisions on council that represent the people of the district and the city.”

“I think you should be for everyone in the city when you serve on council,” Smith said. “And I believe I can be that voice for everyone in the city.”