Incumbent Durham City Council candidate Chelsea Cook is currently seeking reelection in the city’s Ward 3. This would be Cook’s first full term on the Council. 

Cook was initially appointed to the Ward 3 seat in January 2024 after Leonardo Williams was elected mayor in November 2023.

They are set to run against challengers Diana Medoff, Terry McCann and Durant Long in the Ward 3 race. The four candidates will face off in a primary election on Oct. 7. 

Cook credits their previous success on the Council to a comprehensive understanding of development and housing affordability, largely based on their experience as an eviction defense attorney and current professorship at the Duke University School of Law.

Cook also cited their extensive communication skills, stating that legal experience has allowed them to synthesize information for coworkers and constituents, ultimately increasing transparency on the Council. 

“My whole job as a litigator, doing direct services litigation has been, ‘How can I break this down in a way that my clients understand and are able to make the choices that are best for them?'” Cook said. “I think that just translates really well to governance.”

Here is an in-depth look into Cook’s platform, including their thoughts on development, community safety and the greater Durham political scene. 

Housing & Development: 

In the short term, Cook is championing a coordinated approach to addressing homelessness in Durham. Their comprehensive proposal regarding homelessness was approved by the county manager, without being formally added to the city budget, and is currently “in the works.”

Cook advocated in recent Council sessions for non-congregate shelter and day shelter options, but these proposals were ultimately not included in the Council’s budget. 

Non-congregate shelters are temporary housing for unhoused individuals made up of private rooms or family units. According to Cook, the City of Durham is waiting to receive outside consulting before investing in non-congregate shelters. 

“I felt like they would be good temporary solutions, but we could adjust or even abandon them if they didn’t fit in with the long term scheme,” Cook said. “They would have really helped people here now.”

Durham County has set aside funds to develop day shelters within the City, leaving the Council to appropriate funds elsewhere.

In addition, Cook said they support cost-effective eviction diversion programs. These short-term programs are intended to “buy someone a little bit of time” before eviction. Cook said these programs are the “most efficient way” to prevent Durhamites from facing homelessness. 

Looking ahead, Cook is also interested in improving accessibility for first-time homeowner assistance in Durham and exploring alternative housing models. Homeowner assistance programs invest funds into the community for first-time homeowners, while alternative housing models prioritize co-op-style housing and alternative forms of rent. 

Eventually, Cook seeks to encourage 100% affordable builds on city or privately owned land. They said that direct investments from the City are the best approach to affordable housing, and are wary of developers and rezoning propositions. 

“I do believe that we need more density and I do want to build more housing,” Cook said. “But what I don’t want to see is that we are building outward at the very realm of our urban growth boundary, where we don’t have any infrastructure to support the growth and folks can’t actually access the things that they need.”

Crime & Community Safety:

In an interview with The Durham Voice, Cook emphasized their holistic approach to community safety, one that acknowledges housing instability and economic insecurity as driving forces behind Durham’s crime rate. 

Cook said that their housing strategy was crafted with community safety in mind.

“The more stably a community is housed, the less crime that it tends to have,” Cook said.

Although they acknowledged that Durham’s violent crime rate is decreasing, Cook also said they were concerned about the rise in youth-related crimes in the city. Cook emphasized that providing youth with resources that promote economic security is critical to decreasing the crime rate. 

“[It’s] not just that they’re housed, but also that they have an idea that they will be able to get a job, and provide for themselves in the future,” Cook said. “I think a lot of our youth don’t really feel that way, and that’s totally valid because it is not true across the city that those opportunities exist.”

To combat this issue, Cook proposed prioritizing youth mentoring programs, mental health services and Parks and Recreation initiatives. 

Cook supports increasing Durham’s current half penny for parks to a full penny to further invest in the city’s green space. The current initiative allocates half a penny of the City’s tax rate to the Parks and Trail Maintenance Initiative. 

They also support collaborative efforts between the city, county and nonprofit organizations to bolster the workforce and economic development. They seek to work with organizations, such as the Office of Workforce and Economic Development and the Department of Social Services, to ensure that the city is “economically viable for people.”

“We’ve got some limitations as to what we can do in the city, but what we do have is the ability to facilitate and uplift and coordinate and then fill gaps as needed,” Cook said. “I just feel like if we had a more comprehensive plan around this, we would be doing a lot better.”

Campaign & Council Dynamics:

Cook is running a low-cost, grassroots reelection campaign, with a small campaign staff and a focus on community involvement. 

Cook’s website highlights transparent campaign finance. According to their campaign site, they are committed to donating excess funds to local nonprofits at the end of their campaign.

“I just feel like there’s a lot of money in Durham politics,” Cook said. “Especially during this time of what I feel is like even more economic pressure, I don’t want to be collecting money to sit on it.”

On Sept. 17, INDY Week endorsed Cook over contenders Medoff, McCann and Long. In the endorsement, INDY Week referred to Cook’s previous appointment as one of the Council’s “best decisions in recent years.”

In addition to the INDY Week, Cook has also been endorsed by the Durham Progressive Democrats, UE Local 150 NC Public Service Workers Union, the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the NC State AFL-CIO and the Durham People’s Alliance PAC. 

If reelected to the Council, Cook hopes to work collaboratively with other members of the Council and build coalitions that promote good governance. 

“I am just one vote on this council, and I can’t do anything alone,” Cook said. “I think I hit the ground running, ready to implement policy changes immediately, and it’s certainly taken me some time to figure out how to move through the system and form a coalition among my colleagues.”

They highlighted the importance of both integrity and responsiveness on the Council, stating that these qualities are necessary to uplift historically excluded communities that may not feel represented in City Hall. 

In an interview with the Durham Voice, Cook said that they are frustrated with current inefficient policymaking on the Council and stated that Council meeting facilitation and culture could both be improved. 

“I’m here to do the work, and I want things to be run in a way where we are responsive to public concern and we actually can move forward,” Cook said.