Reeves Peeler

Reeves Peeler ran for election for an at-large seat of the Raleigh City Council in North Carolina. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Peeler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Reeves Peeler was born in Raleigh, North Carolina. Peeler earned a high school diploma from Broughton High School, a bachelor's degree from North Carolina State University in 2009, and a graduate degree from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo in 2014. His career experience includes working in community development. Peeler has been affiliated with the North Carolina Democratic Party, NC Triangle Democratic Socialists of America, and the Campaign Workers' Guild.^[1]^[2]

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Raleigh City Council At-large (2 seats)

The following candidates ran in the general election for Raleigh City Council At-large on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Stormie Forte (Nonpartisan)	28.7	99,779
✔		Jonathan Melton (Nonpartisan)	24.3	84,441
		James Bledsoe (Nonpartisan)	14.1	48,990
		Reeves Peeler (Nonpartisan)	9.9	34,214
	Submit photo	Katherine Pate (Nonpartisan)	9.3	32,423
		Joshua Bradley (Nonpartisan)	7.7	26,727
	Submit photo	Robert Steele Jr. (Nonpartisan)	5.2	18,230
		Other/Write-in votes	0.7	2,541

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 347,345
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Endorsements

Peeler received the following endorsements.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

Reeves Peeler completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Peeler's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I was born and raised in Raleigh, attending Wake County Public Schools and NC State University. I worked in agriculture for 10 years before becoming a organizer for tenant rights, rent control, and taxing the wealthy to fund affordable housing during my years working in San Francisco. Later, I moved back to NC to organize campaigns for criminal justice reforms in the Wake County. During my time organizing with Down Home NC, I helped developed working class people to run for office, organized new Down Home Chapters in Eastern NC, and managed field campaigns that elected the first Black mayor of Oxford and first Black Sheriff in Granville County history. I also ran field campaigns to fight the GOP supermajority in Granville and Johnston Counties, and organized winning community campaigns for public parks and public transit in Oxford. I started serving on the Raleigh Planning Commission in 2023 and have used my platform there to advocate for working people’s necessities, to preserve existing affordable housing, and to encourage developers to pay into our infrastructure and affordable housing needs. And through my current work in affordable housing finance, I know what it takes to get our most needed housing built. Finally, I'm a former union organizer, working with Unite Here - Local 2 in San Francisco and a co-organizer of Down Home NC’s staff union with Campaign Workers Guild.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Raleigh must protect and expand it's stock of affordable housing while setting guidelines to hold corporate developers to contribute to affordable housing, public parks, infrastructure, and transit.
We must ensure that all City of Raleigh workers are paid a living wage so they have the ability to live comfortably in the city they serve. In addition, we need to greatly expand the benefits, wages, staffing, and offer separation allowance to our firefighters and other first responders.
Raleigh must do better to protect our environment. Our city needs a robust tree cover ordinance and zoning measure to reduce car-dependency and stop suburban sprawl.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am particularly passionate about worker's rights, tenant rights, and rent control measures.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

I look up to my Mom and Dad more than anyone. My Dad worked for the NC Department of Labor for most of his career, focusing on workplace safety in industrial and agricultural sites. My Mom is an attorney and mediator. They are both public servants and taught me the value of a close community, organizing people to do good things, and serving those around you to build a better world.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

The Postman (1997) with Kevin Costner. I connect with this movie because of how the main character organizes volunteers in a post-apocalyptic world to fight against evil forces that are trying to disconnect, privatize, and alienate communities of neighbors. They bring back a common public good (the mail) to the people and remind everyone of how we are better off when we fight together. Throughout the movie he constantly reinstills in his comrades, "stuff is getting better everyday".

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

I think elected leaders need to be 1.) responsive to their poor, working class, and middle class constituents and provide them sufficient outlets for engagement, 2.) have a background in public service and have an intimate knowledge of both public policy and political history of their districts and regions, and 3.) must refuse to take corporate PAC money and refuse to take large industry money (for example, individual donations from corporate real estate developers, as is so prominently practiced in municipal races).

What legacy would you like to leave?

I'd like for people to say that I left Raleigh off a better place for regular working people than when I started serving here.

What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?

I vividly remember the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998. I was 12, but it's the first time I remember understanding the concept of a lying politician.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

I detailed cars on Medlin Drive in Raleigh when I was 14. I did it for the whole summer between my 8th and 9th grade years.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

I really admired Robert Jordan, the protagonist of Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls. He volunteered to cross the world and fight the fascists during the Spanish Civil War, not to protect just himself and what he believed in, but for what it meant to the rest of the world.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

"Cashout" by Fugazi

What is something that has been a struggle in your life?

Materially, I have struggled with medical issues (I had cancer and received chemotherapy when I was 9), still struggle with school debt, and have struggled to afford housing at many points in my life. I think the struggle in my life that really keeps me up at night the most is thinking about the rampant inequality and economic suffering that the hardest working people in our country endure while making our world go around.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

NC State AFL-CIO

Raleigh Professional Firefighters Association IAFF Local 548
NC Triangle Democratic Socialists of America
Solidarity With Humanity PAC
North Carolina Public Service Workers Union UE Local 150
NC Democratic Party - Muslim Caucus

NC Democratic Party - Arab Caucus

What are your views on financial transparency and government accountability?

Campaign finance reform is a big focus area for me. I don't believe politicians can serve their working class constituents if they are taking corporate donations - whether in PAC or individual form. I also believe in adding more democractic voting and election financing processes. Public campaign financing is something we need badly in North Carolina so working people can run for office.

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.

External links

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Candidate

Raleigh City Council At-large

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Reeves for Raleigh, "About Reeves," accessed August 30, 2024
↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 22, 2024

[1] Reeves for Raleigh, "About Reeves," accessed August 30, 2024

[2] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 22, 2024

[1]

[2]

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Reeves Peeler

Contents

Biography

Elections

2024

General election

General election for Raleigh City Council At-large (2 seats)

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

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