As Tuesday approaches, Raleigh voters are beginning to give serious assessments of the candidates running in the mayoral election. The names you can expect to see on the ballot box are the incumbent, Nancy McFarlane; the attorney turned politician, Charles Francis; and the Republican hopeful, Paul Fitts.

I would never tell someone who they should vote for, but I also am not bashful when it comes to giving out a candidate endorsement and explaining the reasoning behind it. I respect the choice of Technician’s editorial board, but I believe Charles Francis is the best option for mayor in the Raleigh election.

The idea of having a fresh, new, ambitious face to take the helm is always an appealing choice in elections. This is exactly what Charles Francis is offering to the Raleigh electorate. Francis, a 54-year-old attorney, has essentially constructed a campaign on Raleigh being a good city, but not living up to its potential to be a great one under Mayor McFarlane.

The mayoral hopeful holds a platform that is much more rooted in ground-up changes than the incumbent candidate’s. Francis has criticized McFarlane for her emphasis on many cosmetic overhauls to Raleigh, instead of focusing on systemic problems within the community, especially those that affect disadvantaged people.

Francis has been a vocal critic of the current $165 million plan to construct a new city hall complex. Such a project would generate revenue for the upper-class in Raleigh while leaving the lower class still lagging behind. Instead of continuing this project, Francis would instead like to allocate the money to programs that would help the marginalized populations within Raleigh.

One of the key policies he has advocated for to enfranchise disadvantaged people in Raleigh is to promote affordable housing. Francis is a firm advocate for low-income housing tax credits that would create incentives for landlords and investors to create affordable housing, while still keeping the market open for low-income tenants. Not only would this effectively create affordability in the housing market, but it would also appease middle-class voters by not raising taxes.

In addition to housing, Francis is running on an effort to help develop mental health care in Raleigh. The closing of the Dorothea Dix mental hospital is contributing to a “crisis in mental health care in this community,” according to Francis.

Francis is exactly what we need both in municipal elections, and in elections across the country. He represents the pushback against status quo politics in a way that could bring meaningful change, as opposed to yelling pie-in-the-sky, populist rhetoric with no means of being implemented.

A stark difference highlighted between McFarlane and Francis is the approach they would use to governing. McFarlane’s time as mayor has been characterized by cautiousness. Francis has vowed to take an aggressive approach to being mayor. If past is prologue, we can safely say that caution does not always bode well in getting policy implemented in government.

My personal endorsement for Francis does not come devoid of any criticism. My biggest knock on Francis is that it could be unpractical to vote for him. In a three-way race where two candidates are on the same side of the political spectrum, a rift can occur, giving an edge to the candidate on the opposite side. However, it seems unlikely that this may occur as Paul Fitts’s presence in the race has been largely negligible with him having raised just $200 by the end of August. 

It is also concerning that McFarlane has the endorsement of most NC household name politicians like former governor Jim Hunt and 2016 Senate candidate Deborah Ross. Francis does have the backing of the Wake County Democratic Party, but his inability to receive any endorsements from high-profile officials is a slight head turner. Though it is important to keep in mind that endorsements, as demonstrated by the 2016 election, do not necessarily guarantee a candidate’s success.

Despite these criticisms that I have of him, I still believe that Charles Francis is the best choice for Raleigh mayor. Nancy McFarlane has done a fine job as mayor for her past three terms, but now is the time for the guard to change. Francis is an energized, new politician that could be exactly what Raleigh needs to switch its static growth into exponential ascendancy. Even if you do not agree with my assessment of the candidates, I urge you to still make your voice heard by participating in the municipal election.