Meet James Bledsoe, an Independent Candidate for Raleigh City Council

James Bledsoe is an independent, GoodParty.org Certified candidate running for city council in Raleigh, North Carolina. A U.S. Army veteran, Bledsoe is passionate about providing more authentic representation for the Raleigh community.

GoodParty.org spoke with Bledsoe about his city council campaign, the top issues currently facing Raleigh, and how he plans to make a positive impact.

James Bledsoe: A Veteran for Raleigh City Council

During the Raleigh Municipal Election on November 5, 2024, all eight city council seats will appear on the ballot. Bledsoe said that his military experience and vision for reforming Raleigh’s local government set him apart from the majority of other candidates.

Bledsoe joined the U.S. Army in 2005, and has served in the military for the past 20 years. He has also worked for the state in various capacities.

Bledsoe said his time in the Army has prepared him well for serving in public office.

“I believe that's prepared me for handling multimillion-dollar contracts, equipment, and personnel management. Along those lines, I’ve been a supportive leader and a representative for a lot of people. I’ve had dozens of soldiers under my leadership at one time,” Bledsoe said. “I feel it's really helped me out in my management style. Also with my education in management, I'd say that's created a really good combination for a city leader or city representative.”

This isn’t Bledsoe’s first time running for Raleigh’s city council. Over the course of his past campaigns in 2017, 2019, and 2022, Bledsoe has earned more and more of the total vote in each election. However, his involvement in local politics stretches back even further.

“I've been involved in politics since 2015,” Bledsoe said. “I've been politically homeless my entire life. I'm 38 years old. I've drifted left and I've drifted right, but I’ve never really found a place to park the boat in a political harbor, so to speak. I joined the Army in 2005, and it was a good realignment to see how politics plays a massive role in the military and being the instrument of politicians that can send us anywhere in the world. I got a little biased towards both Democrats and Republicans, and the policies that were set in place really drove a wedge between me ever wanting to join either of the two parties.”

In 2015, Bledsoe became involved with the newly founded Veterans Party of North Carolina. Soon after, he decided to run for office for the first time.

“Over the next few elections for the city council, I'd always put my name in. Unfortunately, the Army took me away for quite a few of those. I did get deployed in the middle of an election and still managed to get more votes than most of the mayoral candidates did, even while I was deployed,” Bledsoe said.

Bledsoe’s current campaign for city council has been endorsed by both the Forward Party and the Libertarian Party. Bledsoe said he describes himself as a Constitutional centrist, and he is passionate about listening to and respecting the voice of the people.

Addressing Local Issues in Raleigh, North Carolina

Bledsoe said the most important issue facing Raleigh is crime and public safety. 

In 2022, Raleigh’s homicide rate rose to a new high, with 39 homicides reported that year. While this rate is lower than in some other cities, including Durham and Fayetteville, the recent increase in homicides is a matter of concern for Raleigh residents.

Bledsoe also cited Raleigh’s rate of sexual assault as an area of concern. From 2020 to 2022, an average of 464 Raleigh residents became victims of sexual assault each year.

Bledsoe described the city’s high cost of living as one of the main factors contributing to its lack of public safety. Many first responders, including members of the Raleigh Police Department and Raleigh Fire Department, cannot afford to live within the city — making it more difficult for them to respond in emergency situations.

“Our first responders are the lowest paid in the entire state,” Bledsoe said. “For a capital, you would think that would be unheard of. We're losing officers. We're not maintaining them. They can't respond to all the calls as fast as they want.”

Though Raleigh has recently built a training center for law enforcement, the city is still struggling to retain officers.

“We have a brand new training center that our mayor and city council love to tout, like, ‘Hey, we just built this thing, and it's great. We're going to have all these new officers come in. They're going to be well-trained, but we're still going to pay them exactly the same. [As an officer,] you're going to be overworked. You're going to be underpaid. Your council is going to treat you like dirt and tell you blatantly that they will, but we want you to stay here and work here,’” Bledsoe said.

“Generally, Raleigh is seen as the grand training ground. You do your two years here, and then you go anywhere else in the state and they'll take you on. If we can increase the pay of these officers and firefighters and make Raleigh a golden standard of pay, or at least comparable to other cities, we can keep some of those officers here and we won't be hemorrhaging training. We can improve our response times, which is drastically needed right now, and definitely have a greater quality of service from both RPD and RFD.” 

Advocating for Accountability and Fiscal Responsibility

An issue related to Raleigh’s rising cost of living is the city’s growing budget. Bledsoe emphasized the need for Raleigh to be more financially responsible, instead of continuously increasing its budget.

“Raleigh is trying to expand their budget at the expense of the taxpayers, and it's driving small businesses out. It's also driving a lot of long-time residents out. My goal is to alleviate those burdens of safety and financial pressure from the taxpayer,” Bledsoe said.

One of the contributing factors to these budget increases has been the city’s recent pay raises for public officials.

This year, Raleigh’s city manager, Marchell Adams-David, received her second consecutive 10% pay increase. Her annual salary now stands at $356,375. That salary is significantly higher than the salaries of any of North Carolina’s state executive officials. Roy Cooper, the governor of North Carolina, receives an annual salary of $165,750.

By contrast, most city employees, including garbage truck workers and general staffers, cannot afford to live in Raleigh, according to Bledsoe.

“They can't afford to live in the city, and that's just not right. When I look at this budget, all I see is wasteful spending,” Bledsoe said. “It's nothing new. This has been going on for decades. City employees have been coming forward to these city council meetings or writing city council members saying, ‘Hey, we're getting forced out of the city. I've been living here for 20, 30, 50 years or all my life, and now I have to leave Raleigh because you can't pay me enough. You've made it impossible to work and live here.’”

Bledsoe also said that the citizens were not told what Adams-David specifically accomplished to earn the recent pay raises. If elected to the Raleigh City Council, he plans to advocate for the city manager’s pay to be cut by half.

“It's my personal belief that a 50% pay cut could definitely go to the city workers,” Bledsoe said. “I know it's not going to be much, but coupled with all the other cuts that I want to make from the budget or reallocations, we could probably get every city worker up to a very good living wage, or at least substantially better than what it is now. We could cut the cost-of-living burden throughout the entire city.”

Holding Local Leaders Accountable to Raleigh Voters

Bledsoe described various ways that the city government has worked to centralize its power, rather than listening to voters.

For example, the Raleigh City Council recently voted to extend city council members’ term limits from two years to four years. They also voted to alter the way city council elections are conducted. Both of these issues could have been put before the voters in Raleigh’s fall elections, but the city council chose not to let voters decide.

A local advocacy group, Livable Raleigh, and multiple candidates including Bledsoe have pushed back against the council’s decision not to put these two issues on the ballot.

“It falls in line with the whole mindset of getting public opinion out and giving more power to themselves,” Bledsoe said. 

He noted that while the city council gave citizens opportunities to share their opinions, the council failed to listen to residents’ concerns.

“They had public hearings, and every single time, people said, ‘No, we don't want you to have longer terms. We would like more representation,’” Bledsoe said. “Then they go in a completely different direction, saying, ‘Okay, we're going to go ahead and vote on this ourselves. We're going to centralize our power. We're doing a little bit more work than you think we are, so let's give ourselves more pay raises. We're not going to expand your representation. That would be too difficult. So we're just going to leave it as it is and make sure that we can stay in here longer.’ 

“My goal and a few others’ is to make sure that this doesn't happen again. If we get myself and these two or three others in, our goal is to make sure that any sort of rule changes like this have to be put to the voters to decide. Whatever happens, we want the people in Raleigh to decide it, not eight people sitting behind a desk.”

Giving Back to the Raleigh Community

Overall, Bledsoe said he is passionate about serving Raleigh because of its vibrant community and unique setting. He first came to Raleigh after getting out of active duty and spending a period of time in Florida.

“On a whim, I came up here with my ex to Raleigh and immediately fell in love with the place,” Bledsoe said.

After moving to Raleigh, Bledsoe’s appreciation for the city grew.

“There were so many restaurants, so many bars and breweries. That was so cool when I moved up here,” he said. “It was nice being sandwiched between the mountains to our west and having easy access to the beaches off to the east. I can go an hour or two in either direction and have drastically different scenery. There are plenty of places to stay and plenty of places to visit. There's so much to do around here. I'm glad I moved up here, and I don't think I'll ever leave.”

Running for office is a way of giving back to the Raleigh community. Another way Bledsoe hopes to give back is to donate 50-100% of his city council pay to create educational grants for students. These grants will be awarded via lottery to high school students who are planning to live and work in North Carolina.

“I really feel that if we can make it easier for high school students to go to either college, specifically for STEM, or the trades, then we'll have a much better working class or at least a better educated group of people that can enter the workforce sooner and not have this big burden over their head of having to pay off student debt,” Bledsoe said. “That's why I'm going to set up a series of grants. It's all going to be a lottery, so there's not going to be any bias in it.”

Bledsoe said he will continue donating his pay to these grants for as long as he serves in elected office.

How You Can Get Involved

As a GoodParty.org Certified candidate, Bledsoe has pledged to run an independent, people-powered, and anti-corruption campaign. Once in office, he has also promised to support integrity and accountability in local government.

Want to get involved and make a difference? There are a number of ways you can make your mark:

• Register to vote. Are you local to Raleigh, North Carolina? Make sure you are registered to vote ahead of the November 5, 2024 municipal election. Then make a plan for how you can get to the polls on election day and make your voice heard.

• Volunteer. Visit Bledsoe’s campaign website to reach out and learn about local volunteer opportunities. You can also join GoodParty.org’s nationwide network of remote and in-person volunteers, who are working to support people-powered candidates like Bledsoe and raise awareness for the independent movement.

• Run for office. Want to make an even bigger impact? Consider running for office as a GoodParty.org Certified candidate in your area — or refer someone you trust to run for office to represent you. Book a meeting with our team to talk about how you can launch your campaign today.