What began as light banter became a reality when James Shaughnessy IV, a lifetime resident of Raleigh and soon-to-be William Peace University graduate, entered the 2024 Raleigh mayoral race with a vision for improvement and a fresh perspective. 

“Someone joked to me, ‘Oh, you should be the mayor,’” Shaughnessy said. “I was like ‘Haha, very funny.’ Then I looked into it. I could actually do this. When I decided to run, I was thinking, it really was the only position that I saw really needs improvement.”

As a pre-law student and hospitality professional of eight years, Shaughnessy said he is running as an independent, primarily to direct attention to local problem solving, not party differences or issues dominating state and federal elections. While his name is listed on voter guides for the Libertarian Party, he said this is simply a recommendation. 

Shaughnessy said he’s running his campaign all on his own.

“We are at the whim of the state and federal government, which offers a unique set of challenges, but it lets you just focus on the solutions and not have to get involved in a lot of that chicanery,” Shaughnessy said. “I know some people who do have campaign managers, and I really don’t think they’re doing a better job than I am.”

Shaughnessy outlines several key issues as a part of his campaign with housing affordability at the forefront, an issue he considers both a local and federal problem. 

“If we can address housing, a lot of things fall into place, whether it’s crime, transportation and mental health,” Shaughnessy said.

Shaughnessy also emphasizes the need for mental health revitalization, drawing from personal experiences including his time volunteering in Ukraine and Poland for three months during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, as well as the experiences of a direct family member’s hospitalization. 

“I came back, Raleigh didn’t feel like home — I felt angry,” Shaughnessy said. “We need a mental health hospital. We closed Dorthea Dix. There’s a lot of bad things that were going on, but I don’t feel the solution was to close the hospital. Let’s change it and make it better. We could offer long term solutions for a lot of our unhoused community. A lot of them face addiction, which is a mental health problem.” 

To address Raleigh’s public transit concerns, Shaughnessy advocates for improved accessibility. 

“Raleigh faces a geographical problem where there is a lot of urban sprawl, and it’s a lot of suburbanite sprawl, and having public transit access to suburban neighborhoods is very difficult, very expensive and adds a lot of time to every route,” Shaughnessy said. “I feel like we need to redraw all the routes. We need to redo the way we do stations, make them more comfortable, make sure we have enough buses, which requires more pay to attract drivers.”

At his university, Shaughnessy is one of two founders of Civic Order, a community engagement club to inform college students interested in learning about politics. Caleb Husmann, an associate political science professor at William Peace and a Raleigh resident of 12 years, has known Shaughnessy since his first semester. 

“He’s super involved, extremely passionate and one of the hardest workers I’ve had as a major,” Husmann said. “He’s very service oriented. If I had a student that I could see doing it, it’s James.”

At 25, Shaughnessy stands out as the youngest candidate for the mayoral seat. He said this is one of his greatest strengths for the responsibilities the position entails. 

“Because of my upbringing and the challenges that I faced at such an early age, I’ve lived a life more full than most 40-year-old people who live in this country, which I’m grateful for,” Shaughnessy said. “I get to bridge the gap between the older generation and the younger generation in a meaningful way, because I understand what the older generation says and I know what the younger generation does.”

Husmann said Shaughnessy faces an uphill battle regarding his age compared to the rest of the candidates.

“Being taken seriously when you’re young is always tough,” Husmann said. “When you’re 25, most other people you know are in their twenties or late teens and those people aren’t flush with cash to donate to political candidates. I’ve seen the amount of effort he’s put in. He will legitimately fight for what he thinks is best for Raleigh and what his constituents tell him what they need.” 

Almost acknowledging his underdog status, Shaughnessy’s campaign slogan reads as an ode to overcoming the odds: “Let’s Make It Happen.” 

While Shaughnessy believes Raleigh will be in capable hands regardless of the mayoral outcome, he highlighted his independence from conventional politics as separating him from the other candidates.

“We have the mechanism to switch things around in four years, and we can survive four years with someone who’s maybe mediocre or not as good, depending on what race they’re running in,” Shaughnessy said. “I love all the other candidates because they’re truly trying to do something good for Raleigh. I’m the only mayoral candidate that has their cell phone number on their website. I have no political overlords. I can be really honest. I like ‘public servant’ so much more than ‘politician.’”