KaMya CooperTwo N.C. Central University students will look to Tuesday’s primary election to determine whether they make it to Durham’s general election ballot.
Ashley Robbins, a graduate student and self-proclaimed socialist, joins two other Ward 2 candidates in Durham’s city council race. Durant Long, a 22-year-old freshman and the youngest candidate in the race, says that he wants to bring transparency to the council.
Ashley Robbins
Ashley Robbins didn’t enter Durham’s City Council race with intentions of winning. She said that she entered the race to draw attention to the barriers residents face in accessing local government.
“It’s never been something that interested me or something I wanted to do,” she said. “But as my campaign has progressed, I’ve received a lot of support that makes me think I might actually be able to win,” she said.
What makes her different, she said, is that she’s not trying to become a politician. She’s not accepting donations, endorsements or planning to run again. And if she wins her seat, she only plans to serve one term.
“I think one of the hindrances to actual change is that people want to get re-elected. And so if you want to get re-elected, you’re always thinking about the next election. You have to be mindful of the things you say and do and not make the wrong people mad because you won’t get re-elected,” Robbins said.
Robbins grew up in Sanford, a small town outside of Fayetteville. Her experiences as a teenager living on her own in Raleigh while her mother was incarcerated has influenced the way she campaigns for Durham’s Ward 2 city council seat she said.
“I’ve pretty much been on my own since I was like 14 or 15. [My mother’s] incarceration greatly impacted me, as did her addiction to painkillers,” Robbins said.
These early experiences, she said, shaped her views on poverty, addiction and mass incarceration. And they continue to impact the way she approaches her campaign.
Housing, safety, disability accessibility and educational investment are the focal points of her campaign, as are poor and working class people.
“I think the term affordable housing gets kind of thrown around haphazardly and it doesn’t really mean anything because affordable is very subjective. What’s affordable to one person is not affordable to another,” she said.
Robbins’ decision to run for office came from a desire to intensify socialist ideas and push Durham politics left.
Robbins said that she was inspired by figures like Zohran Mamdani, Claudia de la Cruz and Karina Garcia. Robbins calls herself a “propagandist for socialism” and said that she has an “unconventional” leadership style.
“Some days you might catch me with grills in. I don’t take my piercings out. I don’t feel the need to shrink myself into fitting a specific leadership mold,” she said
As her campaign moves forward, Robin hopes to inspire more than just votes. She said that she wants students, especially at HBCUs, to realize the power they hold. Robbins is pursuing a second masters degree from NCCU in assistive technology and visual impairment.
She encourages students to find their place, making their education about more than just a degree.
“Being here, being a student, is more than just getting a degree and having some letters behind your name,” Robbins said. “Don’t be so preoccupied with the end—getting the degree or the job—that you don’t represent something and stand for something in the process,” she said.
Durant Long
Durant Long said his campaign is centered around housing reformation, youth engagement and structural changes to the city’s representation system.
Long grew up in Durham and moved to Asheville as a teenager, but he said his heart never left Durham. Before coming to NCCU, he attended UNC Asheville until Hurricane Helene swept through the university’s campus and moved his classes online.
The city’s current system of representation, which Long said is outdated and unrepresentative of the city’s population, is what pushed him to run.
“We are a city of over 300,000 people, but we only have three wards,” Long said. “Hope Valley shouldn’t be electing Hayti’s representation. Woodcroft should not be electing Braggtown’s representation. That’s absolutely absurd.”
Durham’s ward system requires city council candidates to run for office in the ward that they live in.
Long said that he values one-on-one conversations with Durham residents and said he’s spent hours introducing himself and listening to voters’ concerns.
Long said being a student at NCCU has influenced his political perspective. But running for city council has been challenging, he said. He often heads to class in the morning, attends events in the evening and finishes assignments late at night.
“It has been my cross to bear being a student in the political landscape. I’m constantly being told I’m unqualified. I’m constantly told I don’t have experience, ” he said. “There are so many policies that are made that affect young people, without young people. And that is such a big problem with representative democracy.”
“Government can be learned. Conviction cannot. Our city council is full of advisory boards, of commissions who are meant to help the city councilors, because you can’t know everything,” Long said.
“But what you can’t learn, and what you can’t have an advisory commission for, is the integrity and conviction to make the right decisions for your constituents. And that’s something I bring,” he said.
Rising costs, displacement and a lack of affordable development are long-standing problems in Durham, he said. Long encourages city-owned development of affordable housing, calling the reliance of private developers “not dignified.”
If he wins his seat, Long said that he plans to lead his ward with transparency, accessibility and honesty.
His political role model is Durham City Councilwoman DeDreana Freeman, who said is a “pillar of strength and fortitude.”
“I hope I am able to have a fraction of her strength, ” Long added.
