It’s winner take all this year in High Point’s municipal elections – which for the first time in recent memory will feature contests in every City Council race. And the political excitement starts at the top.

Incumbent Becky Smothers will face challenges in a three-way race for mayor from attorney Jay Wagner and Dwayne Hemingway-El of Sunnybrook Street. Two incumbents and four challengers will vie for City Council’s two at-large seats, and every one of the city’s six ward seats – four of them with incumbents seeking re-election – will feature contested races. In three city ward races, three candidates vie for the one seat.

Under High Point’s new format for elections adopted when the city changed to even-numbered years, the city has no primary elections for Council seats. We can debate whether the city needs to reinstate primary elections another day. But for this year, it’s winner take all.

We’ve said before that the jury is still out on whether it was smart for the city to move elections to even-numbered years. But so far this year, it’s beginning to look like the switch was a good move, based on the number of candidates seeking office and the number of City Council seats being contested.

Every one of this year’s City Council races will attract attention, but the mayor’s race could become a high-profile affair. Smothers was first elected mayor 18 years ago after service on City Council. Wagner, who likely will offer Smothers her stiffest competition, has been deeply involved in city planning and zoning and redevelopment issues in recent years. It’s almost like one of those “new generation” challenges of the longtime incumbent. We’ll see where it leads over the next few months.