City & town

Mayor, City of Asheville

Vote for: 1
Term: 4 years
Candidates: 2
Election: Nov 3, 2026

What this office does: The mayor leads the city of Asheville, presides over its governing board and represents it.

Nonpartisan.

Candidates Compare by issue

Kim Roney

No party listed

Asheville City Council member; music teacher

The gist

Pledges to end private Council check-in meetings
Supports zoning for more Missing Middle housing
Opposes police surveillance technology like Flock cameras
Supports a Buncombe-Asheville regional transit authority
Voted against this year's city budget over pay

More about Kim

View sources (1)

Pledges to end private Council check-in meetings
Platform — Kim Roney for Mayor
Campaign website · Kim Roney for Mayor · kimroney4asheville.com
“I’ll end the regularly-scheduled, behind-the-scenes Council check-in meetings; and shift to a public pre-meeting process.”
Supports zoning for more Missing Middle housing
Platform — Kim Roney for Mayor
Campaign website · Kim Roney for Mayor · kimroney4asheville.com
“Kim supports zoning to make more Missing Middle housing possible so families have more choices in the neighborhoods they know.”
Opposes police surveillance technology like Flock cameras
Platform — Kim Roney for Mayor
Campaign website · Kim Roney for Mayor · kimroney4asheville.com
“Kim has consistently voted against profit-driven surveillance tech designed to violate our constitutional rights.”
Supports a Buncombe-Asheville regional transit authority
Platform — Kim Roney for Mayor
Campaign website · Kim Roney for Mayor · kimroney4asheville.com
“City-County partnership for a Buncombe-Asheville Regional Transit authority could reduce duplicated costs”
Voted against this year's city budget over pay
Platform — Kim Roney for Mayor
Campaign website · Kim Roney for Mayor · kimroney4asheville.com
“Kim joined two colleagues in voting against this year’s City budget.”

Esther Manheimer

No party listedIncumbent

Mayor of Asheville; attorney

The gist

Supports zoning that allows more missing-middle housing
Supports mental-health co-responders on police crisis calls
Supports a housing-first approach to homelessness
Supports letting voters decide a sales tax for transit
Supports keeping local police out of civil immigration enforcement

More about Esther

View sources (1)

Supports zoning that allows more missing-middle housing
Issues — Manheimer for Mayor
Campaign website · Manheimer for Mayor · manheimerformayor.com
“zoning changes that allow more “missing middle” housing like duplexes and triplexes”
Supports mental-health co-responders on police crisis calls
Issues — Manheimer for Mayor
Campaign website · Manheimer for Mayor · manheimerformayor.com
“Police now bring mental-health co-responders to crisis calls, and the Fire Department’s REST team handles non-emergency calls a badge can’t fix.”
Supports a housing-first approach to homelessness
Issues — Manheimer for Mayor
Campaign website · Manheimer for Mayor · manheimerformayor.com
“Esther supports a housing-first approach through the Asheville-Buncombe Continuum of Care and champions the REST team”
Supports letting voters decide a sales tax for transit
Issues — Manheimer for Mayor
Campaign website · Manheimer for Mayor · manheimerformayor.com
“She has championed transit expansion and supports letting voters decide on a sales-tax referendum for transit.”
Supports keeping local police out of civil immigration enforcement
Issues — Manheimer for Mayor
Campaign website · Manheimer for Mayor · manheimerformayor.com
“she led city and county leaders to keep local police out of civil immigration enforcement”

Challengers are listed first and incumbents last; otherwise candidates appear in ballot order. The Gist does not rank, rate or endorse candidates. Only positions backed by a cited source are shown; 6 issues covered in this race.