Politics

Campaign cash pours into mayoral race: Who gave what?

By Bill Moss, Published: October 27, 2026

Hendersonville is known for apples, fresh mountain air, excellent medical care and a vibrant downtown draped in nostalgia.

With a population of 15,995, it ranks as North Carolina’s 71st largest city.

And, by all evidence, serving as mayor at this moment in history is a highly desired leadership role. For a small town, the politics this year pack a hefty punch.

The two candidates vying to lead the city, current Mayor pro tem Jennifer Hensley and former council member Jerry A. Smith Jr., have raised a combined total of $78,612 in the battle to win the mayor’s seat while a challenger for one of two open city council seats, Jeff Groh, has raised $15,366 himself, an unusually robust sum for a city council seat.

For many years, city voters elected Democratic mayors, although the election has always been nonpartisan. But the last mayor to win before Barbara Volk won the first of her four terms as the top elected leader, Greg Newman, was a Republican.

Hensley, a Republican, says her work on the council has always been nonpartisan.

“People who don’t always agree politically are coming together because they care about this city,” she said in a news release on Oct. 14 announcing her most recent campaign finance total. “I’m running to serve all of Hendersonville, and I’m proud to be earning support from people across our community and all walks of life.”

The state Legislature’s decision to put municipal elections on the same cycle as federal and state offices has shoved the mayoral and city council races into a much noisier environment.

“It’s a politically tense climate right now,” Hensley said in an interview.

Smith was a registered Democrat before switching to unaffiliated and then back to the Democratic Party in June 2025.

“I think if you looked back at previous campaigns, one of the main platforms that he ran on the last time he ran was keeping city elections nonpartisan,” Hensley said. “And then he resigned from city council, moved to Buncombe County and changed his voter registration to Democrat” when he moved back to Hendersonville last year.

“I had been registered as a Democrat prior to my election in 2009,” Smith said. “I had changed to unaffiliated at that time because it was a nonpartisan race, and I felt like I should be officially nonpartisan. Certainly, anyone that knows me knows that my ideals and goals for government more align with the Democratic Party than the Republican Party.

“There’s no way around it that by putting this election in an even numbered year, whether we call it nonpartisan or not, it has made it more partisan,” Smith added. “And in this election, I felt like I needed to go ahead and declare my party affiliation because I get asked about it by practically every single person I talk to.”

Notwithstanding the fever pitch of partisan hostility at the top of the ballot, city voters are focused on city issues, both candidates say.

“I understand the larger elections that are going on in the state and in the country, but I do still feel like a local election is very much a local election, and the voters want to hear more about what you plan to do if you are the mayor as much as your party affiliation,” Smith said.

Hensley said: “I'm not relying on a partisan wave to get me elected. I'm relying on the community that I've been serving, and I feel like in the seven years that I've been here, I have expressed and shown a very nonpartisan form of leadership where I have been very inclusive and attempted to do the best that I could for every resident.”

While nearly all of Hensley’s campaign haul of $34,886 has come from individual donors, Smith has personally covered about a third of his $43,726 campaign finance total.

“I knew when I was going into this race, it was going to be expensive,” he said. “I discussed it with my wife and told her what I thought we would have to spend of our own money, and she was in agreement with that, and so we've moved forward. I would prefer not to have to spend that much of my own money, but you raise what you can, and then you have to use your own money, too, if necessary, to cover the expenses of the campaign.”

Hensley says her financial support has come from a wide network of friends, family and business owners who like her record on the city council.

“I think it's just generally very widespread,” she said. “One of my favorite donors was literally this man that lives down on North Justice Street, who is a retired truck driver, and sent me $25. And as a Democrat, he just said, I've always been good to his family. I've always answered their calls when they needed things or had questions.”

The state Board of Elections showed no campaign finance reports for city council incumbent Melinda Lowrance or challenger Brett Werner. A Jan. 30, 2026, report from incumbent Gina Baxter showed she had raised $585 from 14 donors.

Here are the donors for Hensley, Smith and Groh:

JENNIFER HENSLEY

·      David Adams, Hendersonville, $500

·      Lucy Butler, Hendersonville, $50

·      Cheree Carlton, Hendersonville, $515.24

·      Anne Coletta, Flat Rock, $103.29

·      Chris Cormier, Hendersonville, $500

·      Zach Cooper, Hendersonville, $257.77

·      Tom Fazio, Hendersonville, Fazio Golf Course Design, $2,500

·      Kelly Ford, Hendersonville, CFO/Cooper Construction, $257.77

·      Tim Garren, Hendersonville, firefighter/Valley Hill Fire, $51.80

·      Barbara Glassman, Hendersonville, $250

·      Stephanie Gordon, Hendersonville, $103.29

·      Caroline Gunther, Flat Rock, retail/self-employed, $500

·      David Hill, East Flat Rock, surveyor/Hill and Associates, $154.78

·      Ritch Holt, Hendersonville, farmer, $500

·      Boyd Hyder, Hendersonville, farmer, $1,030.17

·      Gene Jenkins, Tallahassee, Fla., chiropractor, $250

·      Stephen Johnson, Hendersonville, $500

·      Jeff Justus, Flat Rock, real estate/self-employed, $500

·      Todd Justus, Flat Rock, real estate/Justus Business Center, $515.24

·      Daphne Kirkwood, Hendersonville, Idaph Events, $257.77

·      Hailey Lamoreux, Hendersonville, hairstylist/Bliss, $51.80

·      William Lapsley, chair, Henderson County Board of Commissioners, Hendersonville, $500

·      Todd Leoni, Miami, Fla., Leoni Companies, $100

·      Caroline Long, Flat Rock, St. Gerard House executive, $103.29

·      Charles McGrady, Hendersonville, retired county commissioner and state House member, $1,000

·      William McKibbin, Flat Rock, manager/Henderson Oil, $250

·      Jeff Miller, Hendersonville, HonorAir co-founder, $700

·      John Pace, Hendersonville, construction, $1,500

·      Maxine Quattlebaum, Hendersonville, $1,000

·      Jason Quinn, Hendersonville, contractor/self-employed, $250

·      Layla Rogers, Hendersonville, owner-manager/Shine, $515.24

·      Laura Schroeder, Chapel Hill, Tenn., $103.29

·      Deborah Sexton, Dayton, Ohio, tax secretary/Kim Trimbach, $103.29

·      Molly Sherrill, Hendersonville, administration/Manual Woodworkers, $250

·      Heather Sowry, Hendersonville, construction/Sowry Construction, $103.29

·      Anthony Sutton, Waynesville, senior director/Biltmore Farms, $250

·      Russell Tempton, Hendersonville, chiropractor/self-employed, $100

·      Colby Towle, Hendersonville, nurse/Balanced Aesthetic, $100

·      John Hall Waddell, Hendersonville, former Triangle Stop owner, $1,000

·      Ragan Ward, Hendersonville, banker/Park National, $75

·      Ashley Hornsby Welch, Franklin, district attorney, $500

·      Leila White, Horse Shoe, realtor, $26.05

·      Henderson County Republican Women’s Club, $300

JERRY SMITH

·      Lori Axelrod, Hendersonville, $100

·      Sara Bagwell, Hendersonville, $250

·      M.E. Bailey, Hendersonville, $100

·      Rebecca Banadyga, Hendersonville, $200

·      Sam Edney, former state House candidate, Brevard, $100

·      Charles Fitzgerald, Laurel Park, $100

·      Whipp Johnson, Hendersonville, $75

·      Lynne Killian, Hendersonville, $250

·      Bruce MacDonald, Hendersonville, $250

·      John Manning, Winston-Salem, relationship manager/Intercontinental Exchange, $103.29

·      Betty Orr, Hendersonville, $103.29

·      Sharon Pearson, Hendersonville, $140

·      Ann Pyles, Hendersonville, $250

·      Matthew Rogers, Hendersonville, Three Chopt restaurant owner, $100

·      Amy Rognstad, Hendersonville, owner/Honeysuckle Holler, $450

·      Linda Romeo, Hendersonville, $75

·      Leah Ryel, Hendersonville, $100

·      Brian Silva, Hendersonville, $300

·      Jerry A. Smith, Asheville, $500

·      Jerry A. Smith Jr. (candidate), Hendersonville, attorney/Derek Jones Law Office, $14,224.83

·      Susan A. Smith, Asheville, $500

·      Lynette Thomas, Wilson, $250

·      Vicky Turpin, Hendersonville, $90

·      Jason Tweed, Hendersonville, paralegal/Collie Law Firm, $500

·      Ann Twigg, Hendersonville, $138

·      Andrew Wells, radiologist, Flat Rock, $250

·      George Wilson, Hendersonville, $500

·      Sandra Winecoff, Hendersonville, $145

·      Omar Zafra, Hendersonville, lead technical engineer/Freddie Mac, $361.06

JEFF GROH

·      Sidney Blythe, Hendersonville, Blythe Commercial and Investment, $479.70

·      Mitchell Brett Callaway, Hendersonville, retired, $250

·      Beverly Chesterfield, Flat Rock, tax preparer/Howard’s Tax Service, $1,600

·      Chris Cormier, Hendersonville, Carolina Specialties, $500

·      Jane Fleming, Hendersonville, retired, $100

·      David Hill, East Flat Rock, former county commissioner, Hill & Associates Surveyors, $150

·      Marissa Hill, Zirconia, attorney/M Hill Law Firm, $63.96 (in-kind: decorations)

·      Mike Kent, Monroe, Ga., owner-manager/Mike Kent and Associates LLC, $75 (in-kind: table display)

·      Jack Levine, Hendersonville, owner-manager/Pinewood Camp, $1,054.80

·      Barbara Mang, Flat Rock, retired, $1,000

·      David Plamondon, New Bern, real estate broker/Northgroup Real Estate, $250

·      John Hall Waddell, Hendersonville, retired, $1,000

·      Steve Wilkie, Hendersonville, Blue Ridge Cabinet Connection, $500

·      Candler Willis, Zirconia, retired, $200

·      Coy Winn, Hendersonville, retired, $200

·      Asheville Tea Party PAC, Hendersonville, $50

·      Henderson County Republican Women’s Club, Hendersonville, $300