Daniel, Wise and Holder Win Race for Brevard City Council
The results point to a continuation of the current Council's commitment to expanding affordable housing options, completing the Estatoe Trail and replacing the city's aging sewage treatment plant.
BREVARD — Brevard voters on Tuesday resoundingly backed incumbent Gary Daniel and challengers Lauren Wise and Pamela Holder in the race for three open City Council seats — a result seen as an affirmation of the city government’s current progressive direction.
The election was notable — especially in comparison to the heated contest two years ago — for the broad agreement among most of the candidates both with one another and priorities set by the existing Council.
“I would just like to concentrate on what we have on the table,” Daniel, the current mayor pro tem, said after results showed he had comfortably secured a third term. He added that, based on comments he heard from the other winning candidates, they also have an interest in pursuing these aims.
Those goals include completing the city’s multi-use Estatoe Trail and streetscaping improvements envisioned in the city’s Downtown Master Plan. And all three winning candidates have voiced strong support for the construction of affordable and workforce housing.
They also spoke about the urgent need to replace the city’s aging wastewater treatment plant, a project expected to be kick-started by a recent $13 million earmark in the state budget.
“I think everybody knows the wastewater treatment plant is a major thing and we’re not going to see any immediate results on that,” Daniel said.
Wise, an architect who previously ran unsuccessfully for the Transylvania County Commission, said he saw the results “as an indication that the people who voted like the direction that the city is going in.”
He added in a prepared statement about his victory that “I take this responsibility seriously and cannot wait to roll up my sleeves and get to work.”
Holder, the pastor of Bethel “A” Baptist Church in the city’s historically Black Rosenwald Community, received the most votes by a narrow margin over Wise, who finished second.
“Housing affordability and availability are essential. In addition, I strongly believe we can work together and find solutions and address the infrastructure of our city,” Holder wrote in a statement. “Now that the election is behind us, let us unite and be Brevard strong!”
The exception to this electoral harmony was Ray Brewster, the lone registered Republican in the nonpartisan race. He campaigned against taxes for projects that did not directly benefit residents, and, in recent social media posts, criticized the loss of parking spaces on Main Street due to the recent completion of the first phase of the Downtown Master Plan.
The field also included Madeline Hanley, a remote tech worker formerly employed by the bike-share organization in New York City, and Wes Dickson, a former city council member and the founder of Sycamore Cycles.
All three finished well behind the winning candidates.
The only other contested race in Transylvania County was for the mayor’s seat in the town of Rosman. The campaign was divisive, featuring accusations from challenger Ricky Traylor that long-time incumbent Brian Shelton was more interested in benefiting himself than the people of the town. Shelton responded by denying those claims and touting his record of building Rosman’s tax base and expanding its infrastructure.
Those arguments apparently carried the day, as Shelton won more than two-thirds of the town’s votes.
Email: brevardnewsbeat@gmail.com
Thanks for your quick reporting and great context. It's so nice to have a pro covering news in and around Brevard.
Thanks for reporting so quickly. Looks like a promising result.