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Morning, gang.
After this week’s newsletter, The Thread is putting on its stretchy pants and taking a week off for Thanksgiving. Before we do, we’re bringing you two stories that look ahead to the new year.
In the first, I take a look at how this month’s historic presidential election may impact next year’s historic Greensboro City Council election.
Reporter P.R. Lockhart also has an eye toward the future this week. She talks with area economic development experts about the influx of manufacturing investment and examines what it means for a city that has struggled for decades to regain its historic identity as a textile and manufacturing center.
Let’s get into it.
– Joe Killian
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Looking to Greensboro’s Next Big Election
When President-elect Donald Trump scored a historic win earlier this month, it launched a wave of think pieces and kitchen table discussions about the country’s future.
Here in Greensboro, it could have interesting consequences for next year’s city council election.
As The Thread has reported, the face of the council will change dramatically next year no matter who prevails. All nine seats are up for grabs and four members—Mayor Nancy Vaughan, Mayor Pro Tem Yvonne Johnson, Nancy Hoffman (District 4), and Goldie Wells (District 2)—will not be running again. Two at-large members, Marikay Abuzuaiter and Hugh Holston, are weighing runs for mayor. If both run and neither wins, as many as six seats could change hands at once.
You’d have to go back to 2009 to find a comparable shift. That year, former President Barack Obama’s victory sparked a nationwide conservative backlash. Republicans took control of both the city council and the Guilford County Board of Commissioners. Though city council elections are technically non-partisan, they can still be battlegrounds between conservatives and progressives. GOP control of the council lasted just two years in reliably blue Greensboro—but it felt a lot longer to Vaughan.
“The last time there was a conservative wave, nothing got accomplished,” Vaughan said. “It was not a good two years for the city. We basically just treaded water for two years. I don’t think people want to do that again. While we’re not perfect, I think we’ve been moving forward and I think people will want to maintain that momentum.”
Trump’s election may actually help with that score, according to Chris Cooper, a political scientist and professor at Western Carolina University. Cooper’s new book, “Anatomy of a Purple State,” is a primer on state politics for those confused by North Carolinians’ recent support for Trump as president but Democrat Josh Stein for governor.
From congressional to state and local elections, Cooper said, it’s likely Democrats will see gains after another Trump victory.
“The political science term is ‘thermostatic public opinion,’” Cooper said. “As things move in a conservative direction, people tend to want to turn it a little more to the liberal direction. They may not want to go all the way to the left, but they do want to turn that thermostat back.”
That used to apply primarily to federal elections, Cooper said. But as local politics become more nationalized, swayed or even dominated by national issues and culture war battles, it happens at the city level as well.
Democrats tend to do a bit better at mobilizing their base than Republicans during elections off of the presidential election cycle, Cooper said. Also, the urban and rural divide continues to be an important factor.
“Cities are also becoming more liberal, which may limit any conservative backlash,” Cooper said. “The people who pay municipal taxes tend to vote more liberal than those who don’t, period.”
– Joe Killian
Read this newsletter online or contact The Thread team with tips and feedback at greensboro@theassemblync.com.
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Manufacturing Wins Change Greensboro’s Economic Development Picture
When semiconductor manufacturer IQE Inc. announced a $305 million investment into its Greensboro plant earlier this month, it marked the latest in a string of similar initiatives in Guilford County. The trend further propels the area into the spotlight as a key hub for manufacturers in the state.
The expansion, predicted after a heavily rumored “Project Electro” incentive package from the county drew attention in October, comes after several other businesses planted further flags in the region. They include a cleaning manufacturer, an HVAC distributor, and Toyota’s opening of a battery facility in nearby Liberty next year.
The flurry of activity, local officials say, is the result of deliberate moves by regional economic development groups.
“For so long, everyone looked at the Charlotte market, everyone looked at the Raleigh market,” said Marvin Price, executive vice president of economic development for the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce. “The world is waking up and seeing that Guilford County and the Triad is a market that they can go to and really expand and grow.”
North Carolina has built a reputation for being business-friendly. State officials often tout the area’s skilled workforce, quality of life, and economic strength as key reasons for a company to set up shop. Local officials are following a similar playbook, as the Triad region builds on its legacy of furniture and textiles into new fields of advanced manufacturing, life sciences, and aviation.
Plenty of money is also being thrown at the effort. Economic incentives from city and county, state money from the One North Carolina Fund, and federal cash from the CHIPS Act and Inflation Reduction Act are all in the mix.
In Greensboro, Price said, luring manufacturing businesses is about more than site planning. It also requires bolstering the region’s workforce, providing quality housing, and promoting a strong and affordable quality of life.
“Not only are employees going to be able to make more money because our cost of living is lower, they can now sometimes be able to afford their dream of being able to purchase a home, but also [access] the quality of school and education that we have,” Price said.
Greensboro isn’t acting alone. It has partnerships with broader county organizations like GuilfordWorks as well as connections with other local governments, including the city of High Point, to promote the entire region.
“We work very closely together,” said High Point Economic Development Director Peter Bishop. “And that’s kind of a rare thing in economic development.”
— P.R. Lockhart
What We’re Reading
More Than Numbers: Juchuan “Cocoa’’ Hamilton was shot and killed last week. Greensboro police have charged her estranged boyfriend with her murder. The 38th murder in Greensboro so far this year, the shooting was also an example of intimate partner violence being dramatically higher for transgender women of color, according to National Institute of Health statistics. The News & Record has the story.
The Art of Difference: A new exhibit at UNCG’s Weatherspoon Art Museum reclaims and recontextualizes disability. Triad City Beat has the story.
Around the State
WATCH: Making Sense of the 2024 Election in North Carolina
The Assembly untangles the complex web of results in a state that looks as purple as ever.
Moms for Liberty’s Local Election Scorecard
The “parental rights” group’s North Carolina chapters endorsed seven school board candidates this election cycle. Only two won.
Can North Carolina’s Own Ted Lasso Turn Around UNC Charlotte Football?
As a high school coach, Biff Poggi won big stressing love and teamwork. But can it carry a college team to victory?
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