The next mayor of Greensboro will have a familiar face, after two veteran members of the City Council bested a field of four contenders by a large margin in Tuesday’s primary.
Current Mayor Nancy Vaughan decided not to run for re-election after holding that office since 2013.
Marikay Abuzuaiter and Robbie Perkins finished in the top 2, and will move on the general election, which will be held on Nov. 4, according to complete but unofficial results. The numbers should be certified by the Guilford County Board of Elections canvasses next week.
Voters cast 22,208 out of a possible 210,900 ballots.
Abuzuaiter led in all the voting with 8,563 or nearly 40% of all the votes cast. Perkins had 6,976 votes or 33% of the votes cast.
“I’m very honored for that because we didn’t have much money and it was largely a volunteer effort,” Abuzuaiter said.
Abuzuaiter and Perkins bested Mark Cummings, an attorney and former district court judge, and Akir Khan, a business consultant and chief of staff for the firm J&A Solutions, whose work includes broadband expansion efforts. Cummings placed third with 3,825 votes or 18% of the votes cast. Khan had 2,091 votes or 10%.
The competition starts all over Wednesday.
Abuzuaiter, 70, has served as an at-large council member since 2011. In January, she was chosen by the council to serve as mayor pro tem following the death of Yvonne Johnson. She ran a seafood restaurant, Mahi’s, for more than 20 years. Since the closure of the restaurant in 2014, Abuzuaiter said she has focused her attention on her public role.
Perkins, 69, served on council for 16 years, including a term as mayor that ended in 2013 when Vaughan won the office.
Abuzuaiter sees her ongoing community involvement over the years as the biggest difference between her and Perkins. She has held leadership positions and memberships in organizations ranging from the Family Justice Center and the Piedmont Authority for Regional Transportation to arts groups such as Casa Azul and Greensboro ArtsHub to the Kiwanis Club and Greensboro Sports Foundation.
“I work hard at my job and they know that,” Abuzuaiter said of voters.
“Everyone knows I support the police and the fire department and economic development,” she said. “There are so many things I support. I do things like walk with the mothers standing against gun violence— they’re the ones who lost people in their families to some of these horrible homicides. It’s seeing people where they are. I also think that’s where you learn to be a good mayor because you understand your community.”
A commercial real estate broker by trade, Perkins told the News & Record in the weeks leading up to the primary that his years in office give him the experience needed to serve as mayor while the time he spent away from that office allowed him to “bring fresh ideas and lots of energy to City Hall.”
Perkins describes the present moment as “an inflection point” for Greensboro in which the city will need to act strategically to capitalize on the economic potential on the coming decades.
He sees himself, with his experience in the private and public sectors, as the person best positioned to do that.
“I’ve been mayor before and I’ve gotten a proven track record of strong visionary leadership in getting things done in this community,” Perkins said late Tuesday, before mentioning the council’s involvement at that time with such projects as the highly successful Tanger Center and Aquatics Center, needed water and sewer infrastructure improvements and support for the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.
Larger regional projects are on the horizon, he said.
“Who do you want in that room?” Perkins said
Nancy.McLaughlin@greensboro.com
336-373-7049
@nmclaughlinNR
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Nancy McLaughlin
Faith and Values Reporter
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