PINEHURST — Three candidates are in the race for Pinehurst mayor in this November’s municipal election.
The first candidate to file was former village councilmember Kevin Drum, who lost re-election in 2021 and has been vocal about his displeasure with the current members.
“I am committed to leading Pinehurst by respecting its traditions and history, by inspiring and empowering fellow council members, village staff, and our citizens, and by restoring transparency to local governance,” Drum said in a statement following his filing.
A longtime community leader, Drum was first elected to the village council in 2017 following time spent on several community boards.
He is currently the owner of the Drum & Quill Pub.
“I live Pinehurst’s history daily and have experience protecting it,” Drum added.
The second candidate to file was Patrick Pizzella, the mayor pro tem currently on the village council.
Prior to moving to Pinehurst full-time, Pizzella was the acting U.S. Secretary of Labor for a time and served previous presidential administrations.
A native of New York, Pizzella said his love of Pinehurst started when he regularly came to the area during 1990s golf trips.
The third candidate in the mayoral race is Jeff Morgan, who also joined the village council in 2021.
A native of Asheboro, Morgan is currently the Chief of Staff (Chief Medical Officer) and an orthopaedic surgeon for the Fayetteville Veterans’ Administration Coastal Health Care System. He has been at the VA since 2017 after retiring from the Army as a Colonel.
He moved into Pinehurst in 2012 with the military and decided shortly after to make Pinehurst his family’s permanent home.
In addition to the race for mayor, two seats for the village council also are up for grabs.
Five candidates have filed as of July 17: incumbent Lydia Boesch, John Taylor, Claire Berggren, Cara Mathis and Barb Ficklin.
Elsewhere in the county, there are races in Aberdeen, Cameron, Carthage, Foxfire, Pinebluff, Southern Pines, Taylortown, Vass and Whispering Pines.
The filing period closes on Friday, July 21, and North State Journal will post the complete candidate filings in next week’s edition.
