DeDreana Freeman lost her City Council seat in November, after spending eight years in the position. Now she’s aiming higher.
“I fully expected to be on Council, and I’m not, and I wasn’t ready to sit down. So really, what could be the next step? What could be the next thing?” she said in an interview.
So she’s challenging incumbent Sophia Chitlik for North Carolina Senate District 22.
She arrived for an interview at the Durham County Main Library with kids in tow on a rare Durham snow day, her arrival delayed by a lengthy town hall with the Durham Black PAC. At the forum, led by an organization formed last year to promote Black political power, she joined other candidates in listening to senior citizens discuss housing grievances.
A lifelong interest in housing
Housing has been a through-line issue for Freeman. Growing up in the Bronx, N.Y., Freeman frequently attended tenant meetings with her mother. “So early on, I got very acclimated with tenants’ rights and tenants’ issues and all the tenant organizing,” she said — issues she still hears today.
Freeman has made Durham her home for nearly 20 years. After moving into the historic Golden Belt neighborhood in Durham in 2007, she volunteered for the Obama campaign in 2008 and joined the Durham Children’s Initiative in 2013 as a community ambassador. She participated in her own neighborhood association and became president of Durham’s Inter-Neighborhood Council.
She served on two task forces for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in addition to the National League of Cities’ Race, Equity and Leadership Council. She was the president of Women in Municipal Government, a constituency group of the North Carolina League of Cities.
She chaired Precinct 17 of the Durham County Democratic Party and served on the Durham City and County Planning Commission before assuming her City Council position in 2017.
Freeman names fair wages for firefighters and city staff, unarmed mental health response teams through HEART, and downtown redevelopment work as milestone achievements. She believes she can make a bigger impact on systems change from the state level, she said.
‘I’m not going to be perfect’
Freeman’s approach to Council could be combative at times. In a video caught by WRAL News, Freeman came to Monique Holsey-Hyman’s defense in a heated argument with Mayor Pro Tempore Mark-Anthony Middleton. Her profanity in the recording generated significant backlash.
In August 2025, Freeman was criticized for similar combativeness when she poked County Commissioner Nida Allam during a candidate mixer. Allam said the jabbing left her bruised.
Freeman does not blame herself for being passionate.
“The entire time, I’ve been the same person. I’ve always held folks accountable, but I expect to be held accountable, too. So I mean, very clearly I shouldn’t have poked her. Next time, I’ll know to just scream to get her attention, as opposed to tapping her,” she said.
“I’m human, I’m here, I’m learning,” she said. “I’m not going to be perfect.”
She sees herself as protecting against racial violence and prejudice directed at Black women.
“In any incident…if you are harming people in our community, I’m going to address it. I’m going to come to you to address it,” she said.
Andréa “Muffin” Hudson, director of the North Carolina Community Bail Fund of Durham, described Freeman as “someone of integrity,” who follows through and stands up for people.
“Even if she was the only one saying ‘No,’ she stood on it and didn’t change and didn’t waver,” she said. “She speaks truth, even if she’s the only one speaking.”
Hudson originally “bumped heads” with Freeman over the future of the Durham Police Department. Hudson, a self-proclaimed “abolitionist” who favors abolishing over reforming police departments and other systems, argued for fewer officers. Freeman, meanwhile, advocated for more officers with higher wages. A mutual friend encouraged the two strongheaded women to have a conversation.
“I realized that we were about liberating people and getting people free, and making sure that people have what they need around housing, mental health, food … and that’s where we found a common ground,” Hudson said.
Hudson now considers Freeman a friend, despite ongoing disagreements. Freeman joins her to volunteer at food giveaways with Communities in Partnership, a partner of the Bail Fund.
Staying ‘in the trenches’
Throughout her primary campaign, Freeman has stressed her ability to show up. At a Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People forum in late January, she attested to “fighting on the ground with many folks in the trenches for a long time around economic justice, environmental justice and social justice.”
In a later interview, she clarified what she meant. “I think it’s important that you’re not just at the surface level of the conversations. It’s one thing to kind of fly in and fly out. It’s a whole ‘nother thing to do the work and stay in the trenches.”
Freeman claims to be more committed than her counterpart, a point she emphasized at a Feb. 6 Durham Senior Dems event Chitlik was absent, participating in a bipartisan policy conference. Freeman argues that her platform is more expansive than her opponent’s, including an emphasis on infrastructure. Since leaving the Council, she has continued holding town halls and working with families, she said.
“When I first had the twins…being at home with three kids, it was my neighbors and community organizers that were supportive in making sure I knew where the resources were. So I’ll always do that,” she said.
Still, Freeman did not receive endorsements from the People’s Alliance nor the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, despite involvement with both influential Durham PACs. She did receive an endorsement from the Black PAC.
Durham Committee Chair Floyd McKissick, Jr., said that although the PAC endorsed Freeman for her City Council bid in November, the organization appreciated Chitlik’s work connecting with constituents.
Seated in the Main Library with her hands clasped and a shy smile, Freeman reflected on the start of her state Senate campaign.
“It’s always breathtaking and chilling at the same time because you don’t know who’s going to support you in what you’re doing,” she said. “But, for the most part, my community supports, and that’s all I really needed.”
And she’s bringing her unabashed self to the race.
“This is not about Senator Chitlik,” she said. “This is not about any other thing. It’s really just, I feel like I can offer myself in service to my community in a different way, and I’m going to do that.”
Above: Portrait of DeDreana Freeman by Jack Regan — The 9th Street Journal
Sophie Endrud
