Henderson’s first contest for a City Council seat developed within the first five hours of the five-week filing period for this fall’s municipal elections.
Glean Henderson Jr., who at 27 is already a veteran of city boards and commissions, filed with the Vance County Board of Elections on Friday afternoon to run for the Ward 1 ward seat, currently held by Mary Emma Evans. Evans also filed to run for re-election Oct. 11.
Evans is in her first term on the council. She defeated Duane Townes in 2003 to fill the vacancy created when longtime council member E.C. Terry ran for mayor.
Henderson has worked for Terry for more than a decade at his funeral parlor on East Andrews Avenue and told The Daily Dispatch in an interview last year that he considers Terry a mentor.
Henderson’s path and Evans’ have crossed several times. They were two of the original members of the Clean Up Henderson Committee in spring 2003, Evans as a representative of Ward 1 and Henderson as a representative of the Henderson Community Appearance Commission.
Henderson has left both the cleanup committee and the Appearance Commission, but he remains on the Human Relations Commission and is an alternate to the Zoning Board of Adjustment. He gained the latter position in August at the same time that Townes moved up from alternate to full member.
The Planning Board was at the heart of a public spat last year between Henderson and Evans. After Mike Rainey was elected to the City Council in 2003, he had to resign from the Planning Board that December, and Henderson gained the appointment to serve out Rainey’s term. When it came time for full-term appointments in May 2004, however, Henderson finished fourth of six applicants for three seats. Evans voted for new member Jimmie Ayscue instead of Henderson, then unsuccessfully tried to changer her vote.
“She has really disappointed me,” Henderson told the Dispatch at the time.
Two other City Council incumbents filed for re-election on the opening day of the sign-up period: Rainey, the at-large representative of Ward 2, and Mayor Pro Tem Bernard Alston, who holds the Ward 1 at-large seat.
The filing period opened at noon Friday and ends at noon on Friday, Aug. 5. All eight council seats and the mayor’s job are up for election in October in nonpartisan balloting. If any position draws three or more candidates and none wins a simple majority Oct. 11, the second-place finisher has the right to request a runoff in November.
Each of the city’s wards has two representatives on the council. The holder of the ward seat is chosen only by the voters of that ward; the holder of the at-large seat is elected citywide.
Would-be candidates must go to the Vance County Board of Elections office in the Dennis Building on Garnett Street to file.