Elaine O'Neal

Elaine M. O'Neal (born 1962) is an American attorney, academic administrator, judge, and politician who served as the mayor of Durham, North Carolina from 2021 to 2023. O'Neal is the city's first female African-American mayor. Prior to serving as mayor, O'Neal was the first woman appointed as chief district court judge in Durham County and the first woman North Carolina Superior Court judge in Durham County. She served as an interim dean of the North Carolina Central University School of Law from 2018 to 2020.

Early life and education O'Neal was born in Durham in 1962 and grew up in the West End community, spending much of her childhood at the Pauli Murray Family Home. She is the youngest of five children. O'Neal attended North Carolina Central University, where she became a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in mathematics in 1984.

Legal and judicial career O'Neal served as a judge of the North Carolina District Court from 1994 to 2011 and was the first woman in Durham County to be named a Chief District Court judge. As a judge, she advocated for same-sex adoption and LGBT rights. That same year, O'Neal was appointed as Chair of the Racial Equity Task Force for Durham by Mayor Steve Schewel.

O'Neal is a member of the Durham County Bar Association and the George H. White Bar Association.

Tenure O'Neal was elected as the first African-American woman Mayor of Durham in 2021, succeeding Steve Schewel. She received two-thirds of the vote in a seven-way nonpartisan primary election on October 5, 2021. City councilwoman Javiera Caballero, also a Democrat running for mayor, suspended her campaign on October 11, 2021, and ceded the election to O'Neal.

In June 2023, Durham city attorney Kimberly Rehberg, at the requests of O'Neal and councilwomen Monique Holsey-Hyman and DeDreana Freeman, sent a certified letter to the Wikimedia Foundation requesting for the identities of three Wikipedia editors who had worked on the politicians' articles to be revealed, along with individual changes requested to be made to the aforementioned articles. O'Neal in particular requested the identity of one of the three editors, whom she cited to be the uploader of an image of her signature to her article. The request for the editor’s identity was denied, but the signature was removed, making it the only approved request of the document.

Programs and policies On April 18, 2022, 3 months after O'Neal was elected as mayor, she released her first State of the City address. She said that her three biggest concerns for Durham were reducing crime, developing small businesses, and enhancing transportation. In her plan, she also addressed wanting to establish equity in certain areas due to past urban renewal policies that have caused those areas to suffer. O'Neal said that the city is investing resources back into those areas in order to increase economic prosperity The hope of this program is to engage those closest to the pain to help turn the city around.

Personal life O'Neal is the fifth and youngest child born to Reuben (Duke) and Nekoda (Polly) O'Neal. She is the mother of Koren O. Lee, Gregory J. Lee, Sr., Jeanna Joint, and Macklin Bushfan. O'Neal is a practicing Baptist and attends First Calvary Baptist Church in Durham. She is a board member of the non-profit organization Made in Durham.