Four years ago, María Palmer considered running for elected office again.
Frustrated by the “mismanaged” property revaluation process in 2021 — which saw several historically Black neighborhoods and others with long-time homeowners receive disproportionate increases to their property values — the former Chapel Hill Town Council member contemplated running for a county seat. But her father, who still lived in her homeland of Peru, was aging and needed regular assistance. Traveling back and forth, Palmer said, left her feeling like the time was not right.
But after Orange County’s 2025 revaluation cycle again highlighted disparate valuations between properties within the same neighborhoods — and imbalances across more than a dozen historically Black communities in the county — Palmer said she once again was inspired to demand change.
“I thought about how this had happened four years ago and some of the [county] commissioners ran for office without a challenger, sending the message that a flawed valuation process is not a big deal to our community,” Palmer wrote to Chapelboro in January. “Well, I thought back then and I think [now], as do most residents of Orange County, that it IS a big deal. There needs to be a voice in the council that says, ‘This cannot happen again.’
“I want to make sure we have a fair property valuation system in place,” she said, “and parallel to that, that we address the housing and affordability crisis in Orange County.”
Photo via Maria Palmer for Orange County.
Palmer is running in the election for a District 1 seat on the Orange County Board of Commissioners, challenging the two-term incumbent Jamezetta Bedford and marking the first campaign by a Hispanic woman for the role. She is supported by the organization Justice United, where she has worked to help grass-roots group of community leaders advocate for social justice in Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the rest of the county. The “non-partisan, multi-racial, multi-lingual, multi-issue coalition” is made up of 23 church congregations and community groups, and was very involved in resident advocacy both in 2021 and 2025 around property value inequity. Because of that, Justice United members are serving on the Tax Assessment Working Group created by Orange County to review and update how property revaluations are conducted.
Palmer first got involved with Justice United when she was pastoring Iglesia Unida de Chapel Hill, a Hispanic congregation that was extension of the United Church of Chapel Hill. Her county commissioner campaign’s policy platform and values align with the organization’s, like reforming the property valuation process, opening and supporting the approved Crisis Diversion Facility in Hillsborough, and finding ways to lower the financial barriers to living within Orange County.
While serving on the Chapel Hill Town Council for four years before losing her 2017 re-election bid, Palmer saw some of the challenges of addressing affordable housing needs and balancing the demand across all income levels for housing.
“I’m very familiar with issues of development, particularly in my district,” she wrote, “and look forward to working on the development of the Greene Tract and bringing my expertise in the LUMO [Land Use Management Ordinance] work we did in Chapel Hill to the County’s work on land-use.”
The county commissioners also oversee allocation of funding and major projects for the two public school districts. Palmer pointed to her past experiences as a teacher, a principal, and a State Board of Education member as valuable experience to have on an elected body that works closely with the school systems. She said she wants to help foster partnerships between businesses, UNC and Durham Technical Community College to both contribute to economic development and help local students prepare to enter the county’s workforce. Alongside those issues, Palmer lists sustainability — both for the environment and population growth — as a pledge of her candidacy for the board.
Palmer, who is a Democrat, will face off against Bedford in the primary and the District 1 winner will be unopposed in the general election. They are joined on the primary ballot by incumbent Earl McKee and challenger Beth Bronson running for the District 2 seat, as well as Karen Stegman and Adam Beeman running for the at-large seat. Both of the other Board of Commissioner races will have Republican challengers in the general election.
Voter registration for those participating in the 2026 election cycle is underway and runs through Feb. 6 at 5 p.m. in North Carolina. Early voting for the primary and non-partisan Orange County Schools Board of Education election begins on Feb. 12 and runs through Feb. 28, with Primary Election Day set for Tuesday, Mar. 3. More details about key dates and deadlines for voters can be found on the North Carolina Board of Elections website.
Featured photo via Sarah Smylie for Orange County Board of Education.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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