Zebulon Smathers

Zebulon "Zeb" Smathers is an eighth-generation resident of Canton and a practicing attorney at his family's law firm, Smathers & Smathers. He was born in 1982 and his father, Pat Smathers, also served as the town's mayor. Smathers graduated from Pisgah High School, earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a minor in History from Duke University in 2005, and obtained his Juris Doctorate from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 2008. He was first elected as a town alderman in 2013 before being elected Mayor in November 2017. His leadership has been tested by significant challenges, including the devastating flooding from Tropical Storm Fred in 2021 and the economic impact of the closure of the town's paper mill in 2023.