Since 2013, Mayor Smathers has been a part of a great, cooperative, bipartisan team that has led a progressive and practical agenda that gave a rebirth to his rural hometown of Canton, North Carolina.

This agenda has included a focused push for sustainable economic development, living wages, environmental improvements, and increased outdoor recreational opportunities. Mayor Smathers has navigated through recent hardships, leading the city through deadly floods that destroyed half the town, and he is currently focused on creating new economic opportunities after the closure of the town’s papermill, where they lost 1,100 jobs in March 2023.

Though the agenda is forward looking, Mayor Smathers and his team have not lost the sense of tradition, history, and blue-collar swagger which makes his town special and enticing for both families and workers.