Just more than 2,500 Woodfin and Weaverville residents turned out to vote for the 2023 Municipal Election, which included a new Woodfin Mayor, seats on the Weaverville and Woodfin Town Council, and the Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer District.
The Sierra Club, an environmental advocacy organization, endorsed every candidate who won a municipal election. At many of the precincts, a Sierra Club representative handed out a sample ballot of their candidate endorsements.
The following results are preliminary results from all 11 precincts.
Eligible ballots, including absentee-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day, will be counted through Monday, November 13. Results will be certified on Friday, November 17.
Woodfin elects new mayor for the first time in 20 years
Jim McAllister won the mayoral election over his opponent Jason Moore by a landslide, receiving 638 votes to Moore’s 174 votes.
McAllister’s victory signifies a big change for Woodfin, a town governed by the leadership of Mayor Jerry VeHaun for the last two decades. McAllister’s election also marks the first time an openly gay candidate has won a mayoral election in Woodfin.
A Democrat and retired sales executive, McAllister, 68, has served on the Woodfin Town Council as vice mayor since 2021. If the unofficial results become official, he will be sworn in as mayor and appoint someone to replace him on Town Council for the two years remaining in his term. A new vice mayor will be selected from the council.
Hazel Thornton, who has served on Town Council with McAllister for the last two years, told BPR she welcomes the change in leadership.
“The old mayor had a very kind of hands-off style of governing, if you want to call it that,” she said. “Jim is not going to be hands off. He's gonna be more proactive for issues that he thinks that we should follow now… I think that the council will work well with him.”
On Election Day, McAllister wore a t-shirt with the phrase “Build Community” emblazoned in green letters. He told BPR community building was his platform.
“We knocked on almost 800 doors,” he said. “And we had an astonishing number of people open the door and come out and talk to us.”
McAllister said one way he hopes to build community is by attracting more retail stores and restaurants, so that residents have more places where they can connect.
“I’m already talking to restaurateurs and business people, saying come to Woodfin,” he said.
He also said he wants to rebuild relationships between Woodfin and the state government, in order to help expedite solutions for the town’s traffic and safety issues.
Other important issues McAllister identified included cleaning up the French Broad River, upgrading technology used by the Woodfin Police Department, and building more affordable workforce housing.
McAllister told BPR he’s celebrating his victory tonight with a “little get together” over homemade sausage balls and beverages.
Woodfin Town Council
Johanna Young, Betsy Ervin and Ken Kahn each earned a seat on the Woodfin Town Council. They earned 670, 667 and 621 votes, respectively. Josh Blade garnered 223 votes, which was not enough to land him one of the three open seats on Town Council.
Ervin, an incumbent, has served on Town Council since 2022. Young and Kahn, both newcomers, will fill the seats currently held by Ronnie Lunsford and Judy Butler.
Weaverville Town Council
Incumbent John M. Chase, Dee Lawrence, and Peter B. McGuire were elected to serve as Weaverville Town Council members. They earned 730, 704, and 610 votes, respectively. Unaffiliated candidate Jennifer Young was the only candidate to not earn a seat, finishing with 476 votes.
Woodfin Sanitary Water and Sewer Trustee
Three seats were open in this year’s Woodfin Water election, which saw five candidates – the highest number of candidates in any Buncombe County election this year. Elected officials of this body are responsible for setting policies and maintaining water quality for approximately 10,000 residents across three municipalities.
The winning candidates, Gordon Maybury, Lauren Edgerton, and Larry Hopkins led with 386, 378, and 344 votes.
