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Clifton L. Johnson (Mayor of Fayetteville, North Carolina, candidate 2025)
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Clifton L. Johnson is running for election for Mayor of Fayetteville in North Carolina. He is on the ballot in the primary on October 7, 2025.[source]
Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
[1]Biography
Clifton L. Johnson provided the following biographical information via Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey on August 22, 2025:
- Birth date: December 11, 1978
- Birth place: Fayetteville, North Carolina
- High school: Seventy First High School
- Bachelor's: Excelsior University
- Graduate: Webster's University
- Military service: United States Army, 2003-2024
- Gender: Male
- Religion: Christian
- Profession: Chief Operating Officer
- Incumbent officeholder: No
- Campaign slogan: Building a Better Fayetteville
- Campaign website
- Campaign Instagram
Elections
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for Mayor of Fayetteville
The following candidates are running in the primary for Mayor of Fayetteville on October 7, 2025.
Candidate | ||
| John Ashford (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Courtney Banks-McLaughlin (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Mario Benavente (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Mitch Colvin (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Kathy Keefe Jensen (Nonpartisan) | ||
Clifton L. Johnson (Nonpartisan)  | ||
| Nahlee Iris Smith (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Tisha S. Waddell (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Paul A. Williams (Nonpartisan) | ||
| Freddie de la Cruz (Nonpartisan) | ||
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| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Endorsements
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Campaign themes
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Clifton L. Johnson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Johnson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Clifton Johnson is a proud graduate of Seventy-First High School who began his academic journey at North Carolina A&T State University. He went on to earn a Bachelor of Science from Excelsior College, a Master of Science from Webster University, and the Executive Doctorate Certification in Strategic Leadership (DESL) from Liberty University.
With over two decades of distinguished military service and academic achievement, Clifton has remained steadfast in his lifelong commitment to public service. His mission is to build and lead teams of highly skilled professionals dedicated to excellence in their fields.
Driven by a deep belief in the power of collaboration, exceptional service, and community care, Clifton continues to champion initiatives that uplift and empower future leaders. His unwavering dedication to growth and innovation fuels his vision to serve the greater Fayetteville area with integrity, purpose, and heart.- The city of Fayetteville is growing rapidly and impacting areas such as infrastructure, public safety, transportation, water quality, land use, and development. Our community needs adaptive policy passed to ensure our infrastructure stays on pace with its growth.
- We must keep our community safe, support small business development, and strive to establish economic growth projects across the city. Leaders must support economic development processes that will set the stage for commercial and residential improvement.
- As Mayor, I will unlock the hidden gems of our community and set the focus towards building a better tomorrow through effective leadership strategies.
~Creating a strategic plan, goals, and metrics for economic growth based on collective priorities
~Successful decision making based on multiple sources of information, research, and best practices
~Setting high expectations, systems of accountability, and recognition at all levels
What changed everything was a school counselor who connected her with a local nonprofit offering free therapy sessions. That lifeline helped her son regain confidence, stay in school, and even start mentoring younger kids. She told the story not with bitterness, but with gratitude—and a plea: “Please make sure no other parent has to feel that alone.”
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
See also
2025 Elections
External links
Footnotes
