Durham: who represents it, and who is running
U.S. general election (federal, state and county offices) votes on 2026-11-03. It elects u.S. Senator (North Carolina, open Tillis seat); U.S. Representative for NC-4; NC Senate districts 20 and 22 and NC House districts 2, 29, 30 and 31 (city hall: SD-22, HD-30); NC Supreme Court Seat 1 and Court of Appeals Seats 1-3; Superior Court 16B and District Court 16 judges; District Attorney (District 16); Durham County Sheriff and Clerk of Superior Court; Durham Soil and Water supervisor. No Governor race (next 2028) and no City of Durham offices on this ballot..
Holding office13
the sitting council
On the ballot11
3 sitting members running again
The official candidate list ↗ · What Durham is like — the /local page
Congressional district (city hall): North Carolina's 4th congressional district (Durham City Hall, 35.9940,-78.8986); every sampled point in the city lies in NC-4 (120th Congress map) — Valerie P. Foushee (Democratic)
1
Mayor
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leonardo (Leo) Williams Elected unofficial | Mayor | Independent | NC State Board of Elections |
2
Council Member
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Rist Elected unofficial | Council Member | Independent | At-Large | NC State Board of Elections |
| Chelsea Cook Elected unofficial | Council Member | Independent | Ward III | NC State Board of Elections |
| Javiera Caballero Elected unofficial | Council Member | Independent | At-Large | NC State Board of Elections |
| Matt Kopac Elected unofficial | Council Member | Independent | Ward I | NC State Board of Elections |
| Nate Baker Elected unofficial | Council Member | Independent | At-Large | NC State Board of Elections |
| Shanetta Burris Elected unofficial | Council Member | Independent | Ward II | NC State Board of Elections |
3
Governor
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Stein Elected | Governor | Democratic | Office of the Governor of North Carolina (governor.nc.gov home page names 'Governor Josh Stein'); party from NC State Board of Elections 2024 General Election results (NC GOVERNOR, DEM) |
4
State Representative — HD-30
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marcia Morey Elected unofficial | State Representative → Running | Democratic | NC State Board of Elections | |
| Ray Ubinger | State Representative Running | Libertarian | NC State Board of Elections |
5
State Senator — SD-22
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sophia Chitlik Elected unofficial | State Senator → Running | Democratic | NC State Board of Elections | |
| LaKeshia M. Alston | State Senator Running | Republican | NC State Board of Elections |
6
U.S. Senator
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ted Budd Elected | U.S. Senator | Republican | @unitedstates congress-legislators (legislators-current.json); senate.gov returned HTTP 403 to this client, robots.txt included | |
| Thom Tillis Elected | U.S. Senator | Republican | @unitedstates congress-legislators (legislators-current.json); senate.gov returned HTTP 403 to this client, robots.txt included | |
| Michael Dublin | U.S. Senator Running | Green | NC State Board of Elections | |
| Michael Whatley | U.S. Senator Running | Republican | NC State Board of Elections | |
| Roy Cooper | U.S. Senator Running | Democratic | NC State Board of Elections | |
| Shannon W. Bray | U.S. Senator Running | Libertarian | NC State Board of Elections |
7
U.S. Representative — NC-4
| Name | Office | Party / slate | Seat | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Valerie P. Foushee Elected | U.S. Representative → Running | Democratic | house.gov | |
| Guy Meilleur | U.S. Representative Running | Libertarian | NC State Board of Elections | |
| Mahesh (Max) Ganorkar | U.S. Representative Running | Republican | NC State Board of Elections |
i
Notes on this record
How the lists were read, and what could not be.
- Municipal: durhamnc.gov (CivicPlus behind Cloudflare) answered 'Sorry, you have been blocked' to this client even for robots.txt; not bypassed, not retried with another User-Agent. The Mayor and six Council Members are therefore taken from the NC State Board of Elections official precinct results and marked "unofficial": true: 2025-11-04 municipal general (CITY OF DURHAM MAYOR: Leonardo (Leo) Williams 26,402 vs Anjanee Bell 19,290; WARD I Matt Kopac; WARD II Shanetta Burris; WARD III Chelsea Cook) and 2023-11-07 municipal general (CITY OF DURHAM CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE, vote for 3: Nate Baker, Javiera Caballero, Carl Rist). Durham's council is the Mayor plus three ward and three at-large members (seven seats, matching the contests in those two results files). A vacancy or appointment since those elections would not show; no current City roster could be read. The City Manager, Attorney and Clerk are appointed; there is no other city-wide elected office.
- City of Durham elections: the NCSBE 2026 all-contest list has no CITY OF DURHAM contest (Durham County section carries only federal, state, judicial and county contests). Durham elects in odd years: the Mayor was on the ballot in both 2023 and 2025 (two-year term) and the at-large seats were last elected in 2023, wards in 2025. The next municipal general election is therefore expected 2027-11-02 (Mayor and three at-large seats) — inferred from the NCSBE results pattern, not verified against an official City calendar (City site blocked).
- Congressional districts covering the city: Census Geocoder point lookups (selected layers) on a 22x22 grid over 35.86-36.14 N, 79.02-78.74 W (spacing about 1.5 km); 173 of 483 answered points fall in Durham city (place 3719000), all of them in NC-4 (120th Congress), all in Durham County. The 2026 Durham County candidate list likewise carries only US HOUSE DISTRICT 04. The city's small parts in Wake and Orange counties were not hit by the grid, so a sliver in another district cannot be ruled out. Valerie P. Foushee is in the house.gov directory (North Carolina 4th, D; retrieved 2026-10-22) and on the 2026 general list.
- State legislative districts covering the city by the same grid (2026 layers): Senate 22 (99 points), 20 (74); House 31 (56), 30 (47), 29 (46), 2 (24). Two senate and four house districts; only city hall's (SD-22, HD-30) are recorded as people, per the brief. For context the 2026 list shows SD-20 Natalie S. Murdock (DEM), HD-29 Vernetta Alston (DEM), HD-31 Zack Hawkins (DEM) and HD-2 Ray Jeffers (DEM) each unopposed — not recorded as people.
- State officeholders: ncleg.gov returned a Cloudflare 'Attention Required' block even for robots.txt — not bypassed. Governor Josh Stein is taken from governor.nc.gov (robots allows; home page names 'Governor Josh Stein'; retrieved 2026-10-22). SD-22 Sophia Chitlik (D) and HD-30 Marcia Morey (D) are taken from the NCSBE official 2024 general-election results and marked "unofficial": true; both are on the 2026 list for their own seats.
- Candidates: NC State Board of Elections '2026 General Candidate List by Contest — Federal and State Only' and the all-contest version (PDFs, S3 Last-Modified 2026-10-13; report time Oct 13, 2026 12:25 pm; header: Election 11/03/2026). 'Name on Ballot' is used as name; the legal name is kept in ballotName; party codes in ballotParty. Mailing addresses printed on the lists were not copied. Write-ins and primary losers excluded.
- Contests on the city's ballot: U.S. Senate (open seat): Michael Whatley (REP), Roy Cooper (DEM), Shannon W. Bray (LIB), Michael Dublin (GRE). NC-4: Valerie P. Foushee (D, inc.) vs Mahesh (Max) Ganorkar (R), Guy Meilleur (L). SD-22: Sophia Chitlik (D, inc.) vs LaKeshia M. Alston (R). HD-30: Marcia Morey (D, inc.) vs Ray Ubinger (L). No unopposed race among the recorded seats.
- U.S. Senators from the CC0 @unitedstates legislators-current.json (Tillis term ends 2027-01-03, Budd 2029-01-03); senate.gov returned HTTP 403 even for robots.txt.
- Robots/terms: ncsbe.gov, house.gov and governor.nc.gov robots.txt allow (no AI-agent lines); s3.amazonaws.com has no robots.txt (AccessDenied at root) and the dl.ncsbe.gov files are the public NCSBE downloads; geocoding.geo.census.gov robots.txt 404 (no restrictions); unitedstates.github.io no robots.txt (404), data CC0. Blocked, not bypassed: durhamnc.gov (Cloudflare), ncleg.gov (Cloudflare), senate.gov (403), tigerweb.geo.census.gov ('Request Rejected' WAF page even for robots.txt — so no city polygon was used; the grid relies on the geocoder's Incorporated Places layer). One User-Agent used throughout: 'ResearchUpon-politics/1.0 (civic research; +https://researchupon.com)'. No photos linked. No street addresses, phones or personal emails recorded (city hall given only as coordinates). standsFor null for everyone. Wikipedia, Ballotpedia and news not used.
s
Sources
Prepared 2026-10-22. Nomination papers are never opened: they carry home addresses. After voting day a candidate list becomes a result; these rows are reconciled, not deleted.
- NC State Board of Elections — 2026 General Candidate List by Contest, Federal and State Only (file dated 2026-10-13; report time Oct 13, 2026 12:25 pm) 6
- NC State Board of Elections — 2023 Municipal General Election results (CITY OF DURHAM CITY COUNCIL AT-LARGE, vote for 3, elected) ; durhamnc.gov refused this client (Cloudflare 'Sorry, you have been blocked', robots.txt included) 3
- @unitedstates congress-legislators (legislators-current.json); senate.gov returned HTTP 403 to this client, robots.txt included 2
- NC State Board of Elections — 2026 General Candidate List by Contest, all contests, Durham Board of Elections section (file dated 2026-10-13) 2
- NC State Board of Elections — 2025 Municipal General Election results (CITY OF DURHAM CITY COUNCIL WARD III, winner) ; durhamnc.gov refused this client (Cloudflare 'Sorry, you have been blocked', robots.txt included) 1
- Office of the Governor of North Carolina (governor.nc.gov home page names 'Governor Josh Stein'); party from NC State Board of Elections 2024 General Election results (NC GOVERNOR, DEM) 1
- NC State Board of Elections — 2025 Municipal General Election results (CITY OF DURHAM MAYOR, winner) ; durhamnc.gov refused this client (Cloudflare 'Sorry, you have been blocked', robots.txt included) 1
- NC State Board of Elections — 2025 Municipal General Election results (CITY OF DURHAM CITY COUNCIL WARD I, winner) ; durhamnc.gov refused this client (Cloudflare 'Sorry, you have been blocked', robots.txt included) 1
- NC State Board of Elections — 2025 Municipal General Election results (CITY OF DURHAM CITY COUNCIL WARD II, winner) ; durhamnc.gov refused this client (Cloudflare 'Sorry, you have been blocked', robots.txt included) 1
- NC State Board of Elections — 2024 General Election results (NC HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES DISTRICT 030, winner, unopposed in 2024); ncleg.gov not read (Cloudflare block); candidacy from NC State Board of Elections — 2026 General Candidate List by Contest, Federal and State Only (file dated 2026-10-13; report time Oct 13, 2026 12:25 pm) 1
- NC State Board of Elections — 2024 General Election results (NC STATE SENATE DISTRICT 22, winner); ncleg.gov not read (Cloudflare 'Attention Required' block, robots.txt included); candidacy from NC State Board of Elections — 2026 General Candidate List by Contest, Federal and State Only (file dated 2026-10-13; report time Oct 13, 2026 12:25 pm) 1
- house.gov — Representatives directory (North Carolina 4th: Foushee, Valerie, D; retrieved 2026-10-22); cross-checked with @unitedstates legislators-current.json; candidacy from NC State Board of Elections — 2026 General Candidate List by Contest, Federal and State Only (file dated 2026-10-13; report time Oct 13, 2026 12:25 pm) 1