Sarah Palin Endorses Deanna Ballard in NC Senate District 45

"I don't know about you, but I've had it with establishment politicians," says Sarah Palin in an endorsement message posted on Sen. Deanna Ballard's website.

The establishment politician in question here is Shirley Randleman from Wilkes who was first elected from Senate District 30 in 2012 and has been reelected twice since then, before redistricting threw her into Ballard's Senate District 45.

I'm assuming that Ballard's mentor Franklin Graham arranged for the Palin endorsement. Because he thinks the failed governor of Alaska and the failed candidate for vice president will carry great weight with Republican voters in District 45. And perhaps she will.

A Democrat Has Announced for the 45th Senate District

Big news for the 45th NC Senate District, which includes Watauga, Wilkes, Allegheny, Ashe, and Avery counties. Brandon Anderson, who is currently the Chair of the Wilkes Democratic Party, will announce his candidacy on Monday. He'll be challenging either Shirley Randleman or Deanna Ballard, two Republican incumbent senators who were double-bunked and who will face each other in a Republican primary in May (hint: Randleman is going to win).

Randleman Will Run for Ballard's Seat in NC Senate

Randleman

Shirley Randleman announced her candidacy for the NC Senate District 45 seat currently occupied by Deana Ballard (R-FranklinGrahamville).

Randleman's district 30 has been redrawn by the most recent court-ordered redistricting, and Wilkes county got included in Ballard's Dist. 45.

Will Ballard run for reelection against a more powerful incumbent, or will she let Randleman walk away with it?

Sen. Deanna Ballard Has Been Double-Bunked

Proposed new NC Senate maps were released late yesterday, and indeed -- as predicted -- Watauga's 45th Senatorial District has been redrawn to include all of Wilkes County and has as a consequence pitted two incumbent Republicans against each other.

Here is the new map.

Sen. Shirley Randleman will presumably face Ballard in next year's Republican primary, unless one of the two drops out.

Deanna Ballard May Have a Tough Row to Hoe

Deanna Ballard

Shirley Randleman

The Mount Airy News reported that some preliminary redistricting maps (still kept quite secret from the voting public) may indeed redraw a Watauga County district and cause a good deal of angst for Sen. Deanna Ballard.

The beans were spilled by Republican Rep. Sarah Stevens, who represents Surry and part of Wilkes Co. and who also serves on the closeted group of General Assembly members who are redrawing NC House and Senate districts to comply with an order from the federal courts. In other words, Rep. Sarah Stevens ought to know what she's talking about.

'Pears that it's likely that the redrawing will force incumbent Sen. Deanna Ballard of Watauga into the same senate district as incumbent Sen. Shirley Randleman of Wilkes County. It's called "double-bunking," and in the past the Republican map drawers used it effectively against Democrats. If what Rep. Stevens suggests comes to pass, Ballard and Randleman will have to duke it out in a Republican primary next year.

Not guessing how that primary contest might turn out. Randleman has a good deal more seniority than Ballard and a higher profile in the General Assembly.

Hurts So Good

State Senator Don East (R, Dist. 30) died recently while campaigning for reelection to the state senate. (Sen. East once upon a time represented Watauga County, too, but not for many years.) It was too late to remove his name from the ballot. Under NC law the 30th Dist. Republican Executive Comm. had to name a replacement candidate. They chose NC State House member Shirley Randleman.

Though Randleman is an incumbent member of the NC House (since 2008), she's not running for reelection even though she's obviously a political philosopher of consequence: "I’m pro-God, pro-life and pro-gun,” she said. Great answer if you're auditioning for the Jerry Springer Show, but kinda too on-the-nose for our contemporary Clown Car in Raleigh.

Why isn't Randleman running for reelection to the NC House? In January 2012, she announced she would step aside. She told the Wilkes Journal-Patriot:

"Last year ... I was on the road for 46 of 52 weeks. Thirty-seven of those weeks were spent in Raleigh. I was somewhere else in North Carolina where my service was required during the other weeks, helping with redistricting or working for one of the committees on which I serve. When you add all of that up, it's a lot of time."

That's quite the pick to replace Sen. East, guys. If  the deceased "Sen. East" beats his Democratic opponent today, Ms. Randleman will have even more to complain about.