House Dist. 115 in Buncombe -- Gerrymandered by Rs, Still Winnable by the D Incumbent

 

House District 115, Buncombe County

In 2022, when Democratic freshman Lindsey Prather won this open seat, it was rated comfortably Democratic. But Prather got targeted last year by the evil wizards of Destin Hall's Republican Redistricting Committee, and now her District 115 wraps itself almost completely around the city of Asheville on its more rural western, northern, and eastern sides. Bryan Anderson calls the new district a Trump +9 seat, while Civitas sees it as R+2, or "lean Republican." A Blue Wave could just as easily make it lean D.

Lindsey Prather, Democrat

Prather was for six years a public school teacher (teaching Special Education, Civics, and U.S. History) and then finished a Master's in Public Affairs at Western Carolina. She now works as an admissions counselor at UNC-Asheville. She herself attended and graduated from UNC-Asheville, going there as a freshman with an NC Teaching Fellows grant.

She claims the mantle of working class: "I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck, and it’s critical that we keep working-class voices like mine in the General Assembly. But it isn’t easy running for office, and it certainly isn’t cheap." On that note, and according to Bryan Anderson, Prather has been a prolific fundraiser. She entered July with nearly $210,000 in cash, while her Republican challenger had just $26,000. (Which is why, O my brethren, the NC House GOP Caucus is funneling some $436,500 into Republican Ruth Smith's campaign, trying desperately to topple Prather.)

Prather points out that only 4 precincts from her old House district still remain in her newly gerrymandered district. "The district, I feel, was drawn by Republicans for very partisan reasons. It was not drawn to accurately reflect voters in Buncombe County. It was drawn, specifically, to put a Republican back in the state legislature from Buncombe County.”

Prather basically supported the aborted Republican attempt to pass a medical marijuana bill although she was critical of the narrowness of who could access the drug and who could not: "It doesn’t cover nearly enough conditions, particularly some major conditions that other states cover, like lupus and chronic pain,” Prather said. “It’s also limited in who is able to participate in that economy. There’s a pretty high cost for entry, so I think that it definitely skews towards the larger companies.” (Buncombe Senator Julie Mayfield said at the time the bill was written that it wouldn’t allow for any North Carolina company, even those with experience in the hemp industry, to participate.) 

She's also been outspoken in denouncing the new Republican laws on legislative transparency and public access. "Under the new law, current and former members of the General Assembly are free to sell, destroy, withhold or disclose communications as they see fit. Discussions about redistricting are also no longer public records." (Anderson Alerts) That's a travesty, committed against the public trust.

There's a plan advancing from the Republican run Department of Education to reward teachers for "student performance," shifting away from seniority-based compensation (this plan hasn't yet and must be approved by the General Assembly). Prather told the Smoky Mountain News,“There are so many problems with performance-based pay that I don’t know if the drive to Raleigh gives us enough time to talk about them all." Prather wants pay increases across the board, including cost-of-living increases and Masters pay. She’s also calling for greater investment in teacher training and education programs in colleges and universities and is concerned about the increasing role of counties being left on the hook to compete against each other — and other states — with the supplemental pay system in place.

Ruth Smith, Republican

A lawyer. Graduated UNC Law School 1999. She worked for several different firms in quick succession, finally freeing herself in 2010, going solo with her own practice in Asheville where she focuses on personal injury litigation. Didn't want to say it, but she looks like an ambulance chaser. She makes a strong statement on that subject: 

“I like being right,” she says. “If I’m representing someone and making an argument, I want to be correct and say, ‘You’re entitled to this money. You’re entitled to having your claim accepted and get this medical care from your employer.’ On the other side, it’s the opposite. Those lawyers know what the facts are, they know what the outcome should be, and they’re just trying to manipulate ways to get out of it. We don’t represent people who are not legitimately hurt.” (Law firm website)

In 2002, she met her future law partner, Bruce Elmore, while representing families of some of the inmates killed in a tragic Mitchell County jail fire. Smith and Elmore later joined up together in 2019 to create the Elmore and Smith Law Firm. She brags now at the 6-figure settlements she gets for clients.

She appears to be a single parent of a boy who's a student at North Buncombe High School. I can't find much presence on social media (she does have an anemic FB page), so it's hard to access her fealty to Trump and MAGA World. Maybe she'll use some of the 400 grand she's getting from the Republican House Caucus and do some video.