From Staff Reports

Incumbents Kim Roney and Sage Turner secured Asheville City Council nominations, as they were the two top vote-getters on the primary elections on March 5.

Also, four newcomers seeking Asheville council seats earned the other four places on the Nov. 5 general election ballot, where votes will be cast for three open seats in what is billed as a non-partisan race.

The other Asheville council seat being contested is held by Vice Mayor Sandra Kilgore, who has announced that she will not seek re-election.

Voters had the option to vote for up to three candidates.

With all precincts reporting, the unofficial primary results for the Asheville council race were as follow:

• Kim Roney - 10,530 votes - 20%

• Sage Turner - 9,781 votes - 19%

• Kevan Frazier- 8,639 votes  - 17%

• Bo Hess - 7,287 votes - 14%

• Tod Leaven - 6,354 votes - 12%

• C.J. Domingo - 3,904 votes - 8%

• Iindia Pearson - 3,536 votes - 7%

• Taylon Breeden - 1,986 votes - 4%

For the sixth — and final — spot to qualify to run in the general election, C.J. Domingo nosed out Iindia Pearson by 368 votes. 

Pearson, who came in seventh place, will not advance. 

Taylon Breeden, a candidate who withdrew from the race but remained listed on the ballot, received less than 2,000 votes.

Meanwhile, in an interview with Asheville Citizen Times on primary election night, Kevan Frazier, who is running for Asheville City Council for the first time, stated the following:

 “The whole experience has been fantastic. All of the candidates — we’ve gotten along really well. Being the newbie, it’s been a new adventure from start to finish.”

The ACT story added that Frazier “also said that one of the biggest reasons why he got into the race was for his community and the people of Asheville. Frazier emphasized that he wanted to come in and make a difference to those around him.”

Further, the ACT quoted Frazier as saying:

“I think we have so much opportunity left in Asheville.We have to get over the pandemic and move forward — and move forward with everybody. 

“I want Asheville to be a place where everybody knows they belong and that our prosperity is everybody’s prosperity. Asheville is in this transition from being a big, small town, to a small city, however, we want to farm it. 

“We are maturing, we’re growing as a city and we want to make sure we got our systems and operations and that we’re taking care of everybody.”

Frazier, 53, works for Western Carolina University as a director of programs on the Biltmore Park instructional site. 

He is also an owner of Well Played Board Game Café, a downtown Asheville board game-centric bar and restaurant.