Salute to a Western NC Republican Moderate

 

Wendy Nevarez with Adam Kinzinger

Wendy Nevarez has been running the longest to unseat Madison Cawthorn. She filed with the Federal Elections Commission on April 7th last year, the first of a slew of Republicans who subsequently declared they would also challenge Cawthorn in the 11th CD primary. That's how odorous the boy congressman has made himself.

Background: Nevarez spent 2001-2017 as a Petty Officer First Class in the US Navy, works now as a claims specialist for the Social Security Administration. Earned a Master's in public administration. Pulled a Republican ballot in every primary in Buncombe County, except in 2016 when she pulled the Democratic one. Trump turned her stomach.

So can you think of a more improbable Republican candidate? Against Madison Cawthorn? In the R+infinity District 11 of the North Carolina western mountains? Nah. But she's been a bright presence, active on social media as a kind of beacon for other Republican women who couldn't and still can't stand Trump, who want comity and commonsense for problem-solving -- few as that class of Republican woman may be in the western mtns. The votes Nevarez ends up getting on May 17th -- however few -- will be the targets the Democratic standard-bearer will need November 8th. (A possible Democratic flip in the west became a pleasing prospect for awhile, back during the months Watauga got lumped in with Asheville. But no more. It was widely rumored that Cawthorn poached Tim Moore's custom-fit 13th CD next door because he couldn't stand the prospect of all those college students voting against him. Who needs all those smarter-than-Thou teenagers screaming at you?)

So Wendy Nevarez's chances notwithstanding, I can't help being proud of her. I wrote last September that she'd make an excellent conservative Southern Democrat.

She's getting batted around pretty bad right now by the Trumpists because of that photo above. Nevarez attended Rep. Adam Kinzinger's CountryFirst (dot.com) convention. You know Kinzinger, the Republican from Illinois who voted to impeach Trump and who is one of the "terrible two" Republicans participating in the January 6th investigation. Going to his convention and getting that photo kind of makes Nevarez a bad-ass to boot.

Tried to count all the Republicans filed in the old/new 11th. Hard to do at the moment, because some candidates filed in what they thought would be the 14th CD, and some (like Josh Remillard) stalked Cawthorn to the new 13th. And some are in the original 11th (along with Virginia Foxx, who thought that was her new bunk). In other words there are candidates filed all over the place. They have until noon on March 4 to sort it out.

Meanwhile, no one knows what Madison Cawthorn will do. He looks blocked every direction. The 13th -- where's he's actually filed currently -- is no longer attractive. Back in the 11th, which he abandoned for greener pastures, he's already endorsed Michele Woodhouse, a marketer of vagina rejuvenation (?) --she billed herself as the "Vagina Road Warrior." Anyway, Cawthorn, a judge of horse flesh, handpicked her to succeed him -- and contributed to her campaign. She might graciously step aside for him, since as of this morning she isn't listed as a candidate on the NCSBE data for candidate filings under the maps ordered by the NC Supremes. But even if she dropped out, that hardly clears the field for Cawthorn.

Comms Dir. Luke Ball

He'll still face current frontrunner Chuck Edwards in the May primary. Edwards is a fast food merchandizer and state senator who represents Buncombe, Henderson, and Transylvania counties. He's said to be a strong contender to win it all. Pisgah Inn host Bruce O'Connell is also running, also essentially as a Trumpist, and he has a shit-ton of personal money he's willing to spend. He's a businessman contemptuous of Cawthorn's juvenile need for constant attention. Rod Honeycutt, an Army colonel, has been actively campaigning, and his military background is going to be attractive to some, though he seems somewhat moderate to me -- no advocate for Trump -- though not as moderate as Wendy Nevarez. 

Both Cawthorn and his Director of Communications (and messaging mastermind) Luke Ball have had no comment about where Cawthorn will land -- which district -- or if he'll land at all. Background on Ball (since he's clearly calling the shots for Cawthorn): He rose in Trumpist campaign ranks to become Matt Gaetz's comms guy until he couldn't take all the sex scandals. He resigned "amid allegations that Gaetz had an inappropriate sexual encounter with a minor and a reported investigation into alleged violations of federal sex trafficking laws." Ball got immediately snatched up by Cawthorn (with his own sexual predator rep), who most certainly is too a great judge of horse flesh. Only question is who's the jockey in this scenario. 

With a team like that, you could sure organize a kegger.