Testing the Flippability of a Very Red Mountain County

 

“We have to get righteous people in in order to get righteous decisions.” 

--Dylan Castle, Republican candidate for the Macon Co. Commission 

 

Janet Jacobs Greene

 

If what that candidate said doesn't shiver your spine a little, what in the world is the matter with you? If there's one thing none of us need -- except nuns, possibly -- is a man with a direct pipeline to God who also wants to be in charge. Are you kidding me? 

Alex Perri's profile of all six county commission candidates down in Macon County (no, five candidates, because the sole Republican incumbent running for reelection this year refused to sit for an interview with the Smoky Mountain News) is fascinating, not because I have any property or other interests in Macon County but because the Republican CoCommish candidates are an interesting study in weather-vaning. You can tell which way the wind's blowing. It's entertaining to watch them tack.

All three Republican candidates -- two are first-time candidates running for open seats -- are strongly opposed to data centers. All three want to put the cap on Flock cameras too. Except for the youngest Republican (quoted above), they take pains to seem moderate. Not a MAGA opinion in sight (except for a smidgen from pastor Dylan Castle, who's also the youngest candidate and the most "led by God."

Macon currently has a 1-3-1 arrangement: one commissioner from District 1, three from District 2, and one from District 3, although all five commissioners are elected countywide. It's a Republican scheme to change this arrangement to five single-member districts. Democrat Terry Bell is running explicitly in opposition to the single-member plan, "arguing at-large voting keeps commissioners accountable countywide." Fair point. (As it was in the county of Watauga when state Sen. Ralph Hise decided to give the county commission to Republicans via restructuring and gerrymandering.)

The three Democrats on the Macon ballot look like a strong group, especially Janet Jacobs Greene, the 70-something former school board member and former county commissioner who went into the ministry in the United Methodist Church and has retired from that. She's totally credible as a bridge-builder and a long-range planner. Her Democratic running mates are also mainly impressive, like Terry Bell, who retired from a long teaching career in 2009, "then went to work the next day for Macon County government, where he spent five years shepherding more than $50 million in school construction projects for the county manager. He retired for good in 2020."

Russ Lunn, the Democrat running against Republican John Shearl -- the only incumbent, the one who refused to be interviewed -- is more inscrutable. Lunn calls attention to the stewpot that Macon has been recently over hot-button issues like bailing out of the Fontana Regional Library system and proposed data centers and Flock cameras. According to Lunn the five ruling Republicans have been opaque in their decision-making, unaccountable, always voting a lockstep 5-0 on every issue, a unanimity that they've apparently worked out in advance, always in closed session -- they have a lot of closed sessions. Russ Lunn is a master of understatement. He says he's running because the "tone" on the current commission is "disagreeable." When ordinary citizens make complaints, they get angry arguments instead of action.

Macon County has been DJT country. He won the county in 2024 with 68% of the vote. So while a complete or even a partial red-to-blue flip seems an awfully tall order, I'm going to be watching Macon as one of my bellwethers for a building blue wave. There's also Democrat Caleb Brown, running for the House seat (Dist. 120) that the popular Republican Mike Clampitt left vacant by his untimely death. Brown is running against Republican Carl Gillespie, who was appointed just months ago to the seat.