Western Forsyth Has a Marquee NC House Race

 

The exciting NC House race in western Forsyth (District 74) will be evoked forever in my mind by this campaign flyer:

Amy Taylor North ran against incumbent Republican Jeff Zenger (in his 3rd term now) two years ago. She ran without state Party support but surprised people by getting close -- she took over 48% of the vote. She's back, she's got the state Party supporting her, along with Emily's List, Lillian's List, Carolina Forward, NCAE, Sierra Club, and Now Or Never NC. Gov. Josh Stein headlined a fundraiser for her. She out-raised the incumbent in the 2nd Q by $200k and has more cash on hand for the final sprint. (Both campaigns' 2nd Q reports are available at NCSBE.)

I'm a shallow person. I'm way too susceptible to first impressions. I rely on any candidate's social media, particularly Facebook, for indications that their enterprise is in fact a functioning enterprise and is in the game to win. I want to see an active Facebook feed that shows me the boots on the ground, the meet-ups and fish fries, the talking-head videos of the candidate out-and-about (when you've got a candidate who can talk to a camera like a friend, like Amy Taylor North does). I'm old. I'm not on Instagram, but North is, and I bet there's a show of energy there too.

That photo above suggests not just energy but sly collaboration -- "Let's do some stuff!" The personality is winning, but North isn't shy about going after incumbent Jeff Zenger, linking to articles that call him corrupt and allege self-dealing. Zenger owns Solomon Development, LLC. He also owns Lisha Construction LLC. He bought property on the town square in Lewisville and wanted to build a big apartment complex there. The town council said no. A year later, it said no again. Zenger's company threatened to sue the town. Lewisville ultimately paid Solomon Development $1,959,372.20 for the property as part of a mediated settlement. Very soon after, in 2025, Zenger sponsored House Bill 765 that made substantial changes to North Carolina's zoning and development law, including limiting the ability of local governments to use certain development regulations against proposed projects. (FB) HB 765 has also been linked to the current uproar over huge Data Centers. H 765 makes it easier for any developer to ignore and get around public opposition. So in a round-about way, Zenger has enabled Data Centers without actually supporting them. The charge seems to have struck a nerve. Zenger came back on his Facebook with a post highlighting The Ratepayer Protection Act (S 730), which has passed the GOP House. The bill aims to make Data Centers pay their own way and not drive up rates for everyone else. The bill is hung up in the Senate Rules Committee. Where things often go to die.

Comparing Zenger's Facebook profile to North's, you might not know the man is even engaged in a campaign. He posts no news from the campaign trail, no evidence of life at events, no displays of happy volunteers doing volunteery stuff. No smiling appearances at even safe GOP events. There's no visible life there, just perfunctory sharing of slogans and memes. 

Meanwhile, Amy Taylor North offers much more of an insight into a candidate who can win it. The relative energy signal between the two campaigns may be totally misleading and useless for predicting anything -- I'm willing to admit that -- but what else do I have to go on without being on that ground myself?

The Civitas Partisan Index rates HD 74 at R+3. R+3 doesn't provide a lot of partisan cushion to rest on. And Zenger appears to be resting.