NCLM.ORG 23 Nicole Stewart Cannot Stop Creating New Leaders Again, the know-how was there. “I absolutely knew I could campaign,” Stewart said. “I had been doing grassroots organizing for 20 years.” The governing would come naturally too, Stewart figured, as she had decades of experience in both elevating issues and bringing people together through meeting facilitation. She ran at-large in the 2017 election, established a city-wide grassroots effort, and won. Stewart was the new voice in town, and she remembers being very much aware of that position during those first two years. “On a fractured council, she has consistently sided among the minority,” one news report would later describe. With the most recent city election though, the landscape somewhat changed, and—continuing a well-tread pattern—Stewart was able to lead while begetting new leaders. “I absolutely went from campaigning much through the first term, trying to get some messages out there about the issues and paint a different picture because I knew my vote wasn’t going to do much,” Stewart said. “Once new folks got here, it was time to govern.” The issues important to Stewart are both immense and local. Concerns like climate resilience and affordable housing—problems so large that the authority of a municipal official seems futile in comparison. It hasn’t slowed Stewart. Similar to her first term, it may even motivate her, pushing her to find new solutions to these issues that she had not previously considered. “I really came to understand that city politics are just a different beast,” Stewart said. The nonpartisan nature of local government, while initially presenting unforeseen political challenges soon began to present unforeseen friendships. “We can’t do it alone. This isn’t something we get to solve by ourselves… (The first term) helped me understand people in different ways, and made me want to build relationships with people I had not built relationships with before.” The N.C. League of Municipalities Board of Directors have facilitated those relationships, with one success story recently coming to fruition through the state budget passed in November. On the issue of natural disaster and flood resiliency, Stewart, Shallotte Mayor Walt Eccard, Lumberton Council Member Owen Thomas, and Kinston Mayor Don Hardy—a group that represents urban and rural interests alike—worked together to mobilize their respective networks, write op-eds, and advocate at the state legislature for inclusion in the budget. It worked, resulting in $300 million in relevant appropriations. “It’s amazing how quickly we can get to say, ‘It’s not about partisan politics. Let’s talk about the issues.’ All the sudden, we’re not just affecting city politics. We’re affecting across the board.” For Stewart, these issues fit together like machinery and, like nearly all city business, comes down to a question of how to manage growth. The COVID-19 pandemic upended enough of the entrenched assumptions in Raleigh to potentially open up some From one project to the next—and often at the same time—Stewart has picked tasks that align with her goals, which can be broadly defined as equity. That notion informs the lot: her environmental passions, her climate objectives, her focus on affordable housing and schools and everything else, right down to the nitty-gritty work of ordinance making. continues on page 24
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