Who's the Frontrunner in the 11th CD Republican Primary?

Wayne King

Last post down-column about all the Democrats and Republicans (not to mention Libertarian and Green) candidates who want to represent the 11th Congressional District in Congress:

Turns out (according to conservative blogger Brant Clifton) that incumbent Congressman Mark Meadows timed his super-late withdrawal from the race to advantage the candidacy of his congressional aide Wayne King, who doesn't even live in the 11th District. He's from Gaston County, which is now in the 5th.

Wayne King, according to Clifton, is disqualified because he's an establishment type who's got a history of being hostile to true conservatives.

Whatever.

What does appear obvious by now is that Meadows was working behind the scenes to set up King as The Chosen One. Minutes after King filed to run last Friday, eight county sheriffs in the 11th came out with endorsements.

Maybe King's the frontrunner in the Republican primary. Dunno. The Tea Party wants Lynda Bennett. Probably the old-line party regulars will be more comfortable with former state Senator Jim Davis. And maybe that Asheville investments manager Matthew Burril will spend the money and sneak up on everybody.

North Carolina's Biggest Accretion of Candidates -- The 11th CD

The pile-up in the 11th Congressional District of both Democrats and Republicans who want to go to Congress makes total sense. For Democrats, it's the possibility that the re-inclusion of Asheville into the district could lead to a flip. For Republicans, the sudden stepping down of incumbent Mark Meadows opens the door for those across the state who felt a wild hair about running for Congress and who had the $1,740 to waste on the filing fee. The lists are below.

The Democrats

Moe Davis

First, there were three men (which we profiled here):

Steve Woodsmall
Michael O'Shea
Moe Davis

Then a woman, Republican-recently-turned-Democrat (profiled here):

Gina Collias

Now add a fourth man:

Phillip G. Price -- also ran for this congressional seat in 2018 against Meadows and did poorly. Here's what we said about him in 2018.

Full disclosure: I've contributed to the Moe Davis campaign.


The Republicans

Might as well pour yourself a second cup because this is gonna take a while. Seven of these dozen filed candidates don't live in the 11th District. The most viable candidates -- by virtue of actually living in the 11th District -- are highlighted in boldface. While congressional candidates technically are not required to live in the district they seek to represent, it's generally not a road to success. In the ballot order decreed by the State Board of Elections:

Jim Davis,
formerly of the
NC Senate

*Lynda Bennett -- a 61-year-old Maggie Valley baby-boomer (born 1958) who's engaged in the real estate and vacation rental industry. She's strong Tea Party and vice chair of the Haywood County Republican Party.

*Jim Davis -- a 72-year-old Macon County boomer (born 1947) who only just retired from the NC Senate after four terms. He was first elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010. There's some indication that he was recruited by some party leaders in the 11th.

*Chuck Archerd -- a 62-year-old Asheville boomer (born 1957) who also ran in the 2018 Republican primary against Meadows, getting just 13.7% of the vote. Archerd is a certified public accountant and real estate investor. He also ran unsuccessfully for Buncombe County Commissioner in 2016.

Dan Driscoll -- a 33-year-old Gen-Y-er who's now registered to vote in Caldwell County (which is not in the 11th). 

Joey Osborne -- a 59-year-old Hickory boomer (born 1960) who's also not in the 11th.

Steve Fekete Jr. -- a 61-year-old boomer (born 1958) who lives in Lenoir, still not in the 11th.

Dillon S. Gentry -- a 27-year-old Gen-Y-er (born in 1992) who actually lives in Watauga County, which is not in the 11th. He also ran in a congressional primary against Virginia Foxx in 2018.

Wayne King -- a 39-year-old millennial (born 1980) who's registered to vote in Gaston County, outside the 11th.

*Madison Cawthorn -- a millennial 24-year-old male (born 1995) from Hendersonville. His Facebook page says he's worked at the US House of Representatives.

*Matthew Burril -- a 60-year-old boomer from Asheville. He's an investments manager for Brick Street Equity Management in Asheville and chair of the Asheville Airport Board.

Vance Patterson -- a 69-year-old boomer who lives in Morganton in Burke County, which is not in the 11th.

Albert Wiley Jr. -- an 83-year-old member of the silent generation who lives waaay outside the 11th at the beach in Carteret County. Go figure.

Third Party Candidates

Whoever wins the Democratic and Republican primaries on March 3rd will also face candidates from two other parties on the November 2020 ballot:

Tamara Zwinak, Green Party -- a 67-year-old boomer (born in 1952) from Franklin.

Tracey deBruhl, Libertarian -- a 40-year-old Gen-X-er who lives in Asheville.

Ex-Navy Man Becomes Democratic Insurgent in Impregnable Mountain Republican Senate District

Bobby Kuppers, running in the NC Senate District 50

Senate District 50 encompasses seven counties in far southwestern North Carolina -- Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, and Swain -- which includes the campus of Western Carolina University. Since 2010, it's considered unwinnable for a Democrat.

Republican incumbent: Jim Davis, former Macon County commissioner, a dentist, defeated long-serving Democrat John Snow in the Tea Party election of 2010, and Davis has continued to live up to his Tea Party heritage in the senate. He's an orthodontist by profession.

Bobby Kuppers, filing for county
commissioner in 2015

Democrat Bobby Kuppers spent 25 years as a career Navy man, primarily in the submarine service, and retired as a captain. He now teaches civics and US history at Franklin High School in Macon County. He's also served as an elected Macon County commissioner. His term in office actually overlapped with Jim Davis's, so the two actually know one another well. I'm indebted to Becky Johnson in The Mountaineer for an in-depth profile of Democrat Kuppers. He sounds like a fighter who can withstand a depth-charge. “I wouldn’t be here [running for this Senate seat] if I thought it was hopeless. I am not running as a token resistance,” said Kuppers, who has also been a long-time assistant football coach at Franklin High. “I have never stepped onto the sideline of a football game thinking I was going to lose. I never sold my team short .... As a civics’ teacher, you spend a lot of time teaching your students how it is supposed to be. And it bothers you when it is not happening in Raleigh or Washington the way it should be happening,” Kuppers said. “I think we need to get to the type of governing our framers envisioned and do what’s right for everybody.” Incumbent Davis likes to brag about the tax cuts made in Raleigh, but Kuppers complains that those cuts benefit the wealthy and not the middle class. He is also critical of how the General Assembly under Republican control has continued to squeeze public education to death. “The once-proud North Carolina education system has been eroded,” Kuppers said.

Talk to the Hand, You Sorry [Expletive Deleted]

First, it was Thom Tillis, slumming it up in Boone, who spoke of his great personal pain over the Anti-Family Amendment that he nevertheless personally ushered through his Republican-controlled NC House.

Now it's Sen. Jim Davis (R-Franklin) who's suddenly developed buyer's remorse over his vote to urge the rest of us to install anti-gay discrimination into the NC Constitution next May.

At a "sparsely attended" townhall meeting in Macon County, Davis said, “I have a lot of libertarian in me. I believe firmly, passionately that a marriage should be defined as being between one man and one woman. But I also believe with all my heart that in a free America people who choose to live a different lifestyle should have a legal right to do so."

Yet (and you'll forgive me if I'm unimpressed by your sudden pangs of conscience), you voted with the other lemmings in your party to enshrine a constitutional discrimination against a small minority of our citizens into our foundational document...

(You insufferable hypocrite you. With all due respect.)