More Intrigue in the 11th Congressional District of NC

We previously followed the speculation by conservative blogger Brant Clifton that Rep. Mark Meadows' sudden decision to retire from his NC-11 congressional seat might have been an effort to advantage one of his own staffers, Wayne King.

Lynda Bennett

If new reporting by Ally Mutnick for Politico is true, that theory was all wet -- soaking, saturated, and dripping. Mutnick is reporting that Meadows' actual scheme was meant to advantage his wife's friend, Lynda Bennett, who appears to have had advance notice of Meadows' decision:

Online records revealed her campaign website domain had been registered on Oct. 28 by a Scott Meadows, who appears to be the brother of the congressman. The campaign's Facebook page was created on Dec. 18, a day before the retirement. And shortly after midnight on Dec. 19 — about five hours before Meadows announced — Bennett posted photos of herself with the congressman and his wife at local GOP events in the state.

After launching her run, Bennett was quickly endorsed by the Asheville Tea PAC, a local organization which said in a release that its board convened for a 6:15 a.m. conference call on the day of Meadow’s announcement to throw support behind a successor.

"It doesn’t take a genius to figure out how this happened. It just doesn’t," said Jeff Miller, a city councilman in Hendersonville, who was the 2010 GOP nominee in the district. "It just looks very suspicious."

"It was very discourteous to other Republicans who were respecting Congressman Meadows and not primarying him for him to pull out this close to it and leave everybody in a lurch," Miller said.

So what about Meadows' own deputy chief of staff Wayne King, who registered to run just after Meadows announced his retirement and who doesn't actually live in District 11?

Meadows' plans were kept so secret that Wayne King, the congressman’s deputy chief of staff and district director who has been eyeing the seat, did not learn about the retirement until shortly before the public announcement. He said he was asked to break the news to the district staff on Dec. 18, a Wednesday and the day the House voted to impeach Trump.

So Lynda Bennett is the chosen one. We'll see if Republicans in the 11th District agree on March 3rd.