HAMLET — Voters in the Seaboard City are invited to Axe to Grind Thursday evening to question candidates for the upcoming election.
The restaurant and bar is hosting a Town Hall meeting starting at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 and at least one candidate will be there: owner Ray Mills, who is running a write-in campaign for mayor.
Mills is running against incumbent Mayor Amy Guinn, who was elected to the two-year position in 2023. Guinn was unchallenged when election filing closed after a two-week period in July.
Mills announced the Town Hall — and his candidacy — at the Sept. 9 city council meeting, saying he was concerned about “the downtown area’s lack of progress over the last two years.”
Candidates running for Hamlet City Council are incumbents Eddie Martin and Tony Clewis, and challengers Esco Lattimer and Dr. Amber Daniels.
The purpose of the Town Hall, Mills said, is to “openly discuss the problems we face as a community and explore ways to move forward.”
All council members, candidates and residents — as many as the establishment can hold — are invited to the event.
Early voting for all municipal elections — except Dobbins Heights — begins Thursday, Oct. 16 and runs through Nov. 1 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Cooperative Extension office on Caroline Street in Rockingham. Voting will not be available on the weekends except for Saturday, Nov. 1.
The election is Tuesday, Nov. 4.
