Greensboro Reporter

The Greensboro mayoral race is down to two candidates, with incumbent Nancy Vaughan being challenged by City Council Member Justin Outling.

Vaughan and Outling were the two candidates who received the most votes in Tuesday’s primary, with unofficial results showing Vaughan with 45% (18,003 votes) to Outling’s 35% (14,121). The election is set for Tuesday, July 26.

Each of the two candidates left standing started making their pitches for the general election.

"Just in the last three years, I have faced unprecedented challenges: a  tornado, urban flooding, a deadly fire, the death of Marcus Smith, civil unrest, police accountability, a pandemic and recovery," Vaughan told WFMY 2 News.

Vaughan has been Greensboro mayor since 2013. Before that, she served on the City Council in the late 1990s and again in 2009.

“It’s the times when leadership counts,” she said, according to WFMY 2 News, defining leadership as the ability to talk with and listen to all constituents, then doing what is best for the city.

Outling has served Greensboro in a couple of capacities, sitting on the City Council since 2015 and, before that, on the city’s Minimum Housing Standards Commission.

"I deeply love Greensboro. Greensboro is at the core of who I am in every important way,” Outling told WFMY 2 News. “My wife Corey and I met as freshmen 19-year-olds at UNC Greensboro. Our two children, Clark and Clara, attend Jones Elementary school in the Warnersville neighborhood.” 

In addition to serving on City Council for the past seven years, Outling is a partner at the Brooks Pierce Law Firm in Greensboro, which is considered one of the top business law firms in North Carolina, according to WFMY 2 News. He names tackling the city’s rising violent crime rate as his top priority should he win the July election.