2022 Election & Candidacy Notes

By now, most of you are probably aware that the NC Supreme Court has delayed primary elections for all offices until May 17.  Before this ruling, the primaries had been scheduled for March 8.  The Democrat-controlled court decided to postpone the primary to settle lawsuits brought by Democrats and election activists.  The court set January 11 as the deadline for bringing those suits to a close.  Candidate filing will likely remain on hold until decisions are reached in those cases.

First Tuesday asked the Buncombe County Election Services office when candidate filing will be resumed.  Victoria Pickens told us that, “The court order did not provide the dates of the new filing period. As soon as we know, we will post it on our website, social media and submit a press release.”

For most elected positions, you must only meet age and residency requirements.  No IQ testing is required. Candidates for judgeships and District Attorney “must be duly authorized to practice law in the courts of the state.” 

To file for any office, candidates must have registered as a member of a major political party by either the end of September 2021 or 90 days before the re-opening of the candidate filing period.  So, all of this means that most registered Republican and Democrat voters can run for most non-judge or DA seats. You are actually not even required to have any common sense or to listen to constituents! Obviously.

Before filing was abruptly halted on December 8, fifty-two candidates completed their filing to run for offices that Buncombe County voters will find on their ballot for the May 17 primary election.  Click here to view the official candidate list as of December 8. Our analysis of the filings is as follows.    

• Five Republicans and two Democrats (so far) have filed to run for the US Senate seat held today by Richard Burr, who will not seek re-election.  We can expect to see more candidates once filing resumes.
• WNC’s new US Congressional District 14 seat is one whose boundaries could shift if the courts rule against the redrawn maps.  Madison Cawthorn has elected to run for District 11 instead of the new district.  However, there is no shortage of candidates for District 14.  As with the US Senate seat, we know that several candidates who had announced their intent to run for the seat did not complete the filing process before it was halted.  For now, two Republicans and one Democrat have filed.  We have heard murmurings of a January 6 debate between the District 14 candidates.  Mark your calendars and await further details.
• Two Democrat-controlled NC Supreme Court Associate Justice seats are on the 2022 general election ballot.  In addition to the incumbent Dems, three Republican candidates (so far) have filed to run for these two seats.
• There are four seats open for NC Court of Appeals Judges, and five Republicans and two Democrats have filed to run for these seats.
• Redrawn NC Senate District 49 is home to fewer Republicans than the previous map.  No one (not even the incumbent, Julie Mayfield) filed to run for this seat before the court halted candidate filing.  In our opinion, there are probably not enough Republicans to support a candidate in this district.
• Senate District 46 is the new home for the rest of Buncombe County’s voters.  This district was Republican-controlled before redistricting, and it appears to remain strongly Republican after the new maps were drawn.  The incumbent, Republican Warren Daniel, has filed for re-election and (so far) faces one Republican challenger, Mark Crawford (former member of the N.C. House of Representatives).
• Democrat Susan Fischer has resigned from her seat as representative for House Seat 114 as of the end of this year.  This move allows the Democrats to appoint a replacement who will serve the remainder of her term and become the incumbent in the 2022 election.  The district is so intensely blue; it was probably unnecessary for her to take this step.
• NC House District 115 is held today by Democrat John Ager.  The redrawn district appears to be one that Republicans could take.  Lucky for us, Everett Pittillo has risen to that challenge!  If you have been anywhere close to a county school board or county commissioners meeting this year, you have seen Everett there, standing up for conservative values.
• NC House District 116 appears to be on a path to becoming a Republican district with the latest redistricting map.  Democrat incumbent, Brian Turner, has decided not to run for re-election, and two Republicans have filed as candidates for this seat:
  • Previous Candidate for US Congress District 11, Chuck Archard
  • Current Chair of the City of Asheville’s Board of Adjustment, Pratik Bhakta
• Democrat Jacqueline Grant has filed for election as NC Superior Court Judge for District 28.  In April of this year, she was appointed to that seat by Roy Cooper.  As of December 8, no one has filed to challenge her for that seat.  WE NEED A REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER FOR THIS SEAT.
• Five incumbent Democrat District 28 Court Judges have filed to run for re-election.  So far, there are no Republican challengers to any of those seats.  WE NEED SOME REPUBLICAN CHALLENGERS FOR THESE SEATS.
• While no one has filed for Buncombe County District Attorney (Prosecutorial District 40) yet, Democrat Todd Williams announced on December 1 that he would seek re-election.  WE NEED A REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER FOR THIS SEAT.
• Buncombe County Board of Commissioners:
  • Democrat incumbent Al Whitesides has filed for re-election to Commission District 1.  WE NEED A REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER FOR THIS SEAT.
  • After Commissioner Mike Fryar’s death in February 2020, Anthony Penland was appointed to take his County Commission District 2 seat for the remaining months of his term.  Commissioner Jasmine Beach-Ferrara then took that seat in the November 2020 election.   Penland has filed for the other District 2 seat that Democrat Amanda Edwards currently holds, and Edwards has not yet filed for re-election.  There is one additional Democrat who has also filed for this seat, Matt Kern. 
  • Incumbent Robert Pressley, a Republican, has filed for re-election to District 3.  He is unchallenged for this seat so far.
• Democrat Steven Cogburn has filed for re-election as Buncombe County Clerk of Superior Clerk.  He is, as yet, unopposed.  WE NEED A REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER FOR THIS SEAT.
• Two Republicans and two Democrats have filed to run for Buncombe County Sherriff: AJ Fox (R), Jeff Worley (R), David Hurley (D), and incumbent Quentin Miller (D).
• Asheville’s incumbent Democrat Mayor Esther Mannheimer has filed for a third term.  While he has not yet formally filed, Asheville George Floyd protest organizer and long-time activist Michael Hayes announced in November that he would also be running for Asheville’s top elected position.  WE NEED A REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER FOR THIS SEAT.
• One Republican (Alex Cobb) and three democrats are the only candidates that have filed for the three City Council seats.  WE NEED ONE OR TWO MORE REPUBLICAN CHALLENGERS FOR THESE SEATS.
  • Vice Mayor Sheneika Smith has spoken of “a high likelihood” that she will run for re-election, but she has not yet filed.
  • Councilwoman Gwen Wisler has stated that she will not seek re-election.
  • We have not heard whether Councilwoman Antanette Mosley will run, and she has not yet filed for an election onto this seat (to which she was appointed).  We expect that she will run, though.

• City Council appointed the current Asheville City School Board members, but HB 400 now requires that the public elect these positions.  There are currently five board members, but the size will expand to a total of seven board members under this new law.  So, in 2022, Asheville voters will have two new board seats to fill.  Two current members (Shaunda Sandford and Vice-Chair Martha Geitner) will be up for election.  While neither incumbent has yet registered for the coming election cycle, three Democrats and one Unaffiliated candidate have filed.  WE NEED ONE OR TWO MORE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES FOR THESE SEATS.

Throughout this post, we have suggested a need for Republican candidates.  More often than not, we expect Republicans to understand the importance of defending and promoting conservative values.  We are acutely aware that elected officials don’t automatically vote like conservatives just because they have an “(R)” beside their name. 

However, it’s effortless to demonstrate that most of our local Democrat leaders vote just like we expect Schumer, Pelosi, AOC, and Cheney would vote.  We are all experiencing the results of their legislative maneuvers at the Federal level, and the last thing we need is more of the same at the local level. 

We encourage more Republicans to file their candidacy for some of the above seats.