Pamela Somers Hemminger (born March 20, 1960)[1] is an American politician who served as the mayor of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, from 2015 to 2023.

In the town's 2015 mayoral race, Hemminger was endorsed by a new local political action committee and unseated Mark Kleinschmidt by a 9% margin.

[3][4] Her husband, Bradley Mark Hemminger, is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) School of Information and Library Science.

"[18] Indy Week reporter Billy Ball wrote: "This campaign has been unusually venomous by Chapel Hill standards, with malicious attacks, Internet trolling and a bitter wave of anti-incumbent sentiment, all in a town that, historically, tends to agree with itself more than it doesn't.

"[19] Hemminger confirmed her first reelection bid during her weekly appearance on WCHL's The Aaron Keck Show in May 2017, and then she made a formal announcement in June.

[20] She was reelected to a second term on November 7, 2017, with 92.51% of the vote; former Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP leader Eugene Farrar challenged her in a write-in campaign.

[21] Hemminger focused on diversifying the tax base to fund affordable housing, community space for teenagers, parks and recreation, and additional cultural activities.

[27] Facing a single challenger, 34-year-old ACLU canvasser and yoga and math teacher Joshua Levenson,[28] she was again endorsed by CHALT, the Sierra Club,[29] Equality North Carolina,[30] and Indy Week,[31] as well as The Daily Tar Heel[32] and the local advocacy group NEXT.

[34] Hemminger was again re-elected with 61% of the vote in 2021[35] in a more hotly contested race against town council member Hongbin Gu and UNC law student Zachary Boyce.

[39][40] In April 2017, the town council rezoned parts of Chapel Hill to attract business development; Hemminger said she wanted the change because "we're not able to react fast enough for some of these projects that we would most likely like to have".

[42] Saying she wanted the town to be a "regional foodie destination", Hemminger worked to bring new retailers to Chapel Hill, such as by approving construction of a Wegmans supermarket with $4 million in tax incentives.

[52][53] In a candidate questionnaire in 2015, Hemminger wrote: "I vow to continue Chapel Hill's strong track record of protecting our streams, encouraging energy-efficient building, and maintaining natural green spaces to balance the growing density of our built environment.

"[54] In June 2017, the town council passed a resolution recommitting Chapel Hill to its goals for climate change mitigation as part of the Paris Agreement.

[56] In January 2018, she signed a petition against the repeal of the Clean Power Plan announced by Scott Pruitt, the EPA administrator at the time.

"[58] Later in 2018, David Boraks reported for WFAE that despite the announced national withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, some state and local governments had made their own efforts on climate change mitigation.

"[72] Later that year, Hemminger claimed that the General Assembly might try to legislate for "intent" instead of "policies" in order to force municipalities to comply with federal law enforcement, saying, "It's hard to talk about [welcoming refugees] and not have state lawmakers come at us.

Hemminger said town staff and police were working with the university to investigate the toppling, and added, "I encourage everyone to remember that our freedom of expression does not come at the expense of safety and public order.

"[85] She also said the statue "doesn't represent our town values" and was "a public safety nightmare, as far as we're concerned", arguing that some people stayed away from downtown businesses when protests were held.

"[100] Hemminger also supports limits on campaign donations in local municipal races; in her first mayoral election in Chapel Hill, the cap was $353 for individuals.

Hemminger defended the decision to host the group, saying, "While you may not agree with everything – or any or part – it's always a good learning experience, and it's also a better opportunity to have change come when you bring people to the table and have the discussion rather than shutting them out.