Deanna Ballard, Ousted From Her NC Senate Seat, Now Running for Lt. Gov.

 

It was no secret that the Republican leadership in the NC Senate essentially put a knife in former Dist. 45 Senator Deanna Ballard's backside in 2022, double-bunking her in Dist. 47 with powerful Sen. Ralph Hise, chair of the Appropriations Committee and of the (ahem) Redistricting Committee. Hise did the deed to Ballard, drawing them both into his district, and he subsequently knocked her off in the 2022 primary (though with a winning margin of only 362 votes).

According to Ballotpedia, there are already five other Republicans running in the Lt. Gov. primary in 2024. None of them have big statewide name recognition, as is also certainly the case with Deanna Ballard.

Ballard has put out a press release announcing her candidacy for Lt. Gov. It's a curious document in that she seems to be running pretty exclusively on re-litigating the COVID pandemic, particularly the Governor's decision to close schools, because the Republican playbook during the Trump era is all about sorehead, backward looking, not-getting-over-it resentment for any public policy meant to save lives.

Ballard also manages to embrace Mark Robinson as a guiding light in her attempt to replace him in office. Yuck.