New Hope in Transylvania County

 

My friend Deda Edney in Transylvania County sent me this video featuring seven Democratic candidates running for school board and county commission there -- an unusual approach, as some local candidates resist running as a unified group, a partisan team, but in this Transylvania instance, it's a positive presentation for community building and solidarity.

I've watched the Democrats in Transylvania for years now and feel their pain. Deda's husband Sam Edney ran a great but losing race for House Dist. 113 in both 2018 and 2020. He's now the party chair in Transylvania, and he's not given up rallying Democrats and carrying the flag for progressive change. This year's team of local candidates proves it. Deda and Sam are the type of local leaders that state party Chair Anderson Clayton has called for in every corner of rural North Carolina.

Two years ago, Transylvania elected to its school board a trigger-happy Christian nationalist and a Moms-for-Liberty-adjacent woman. The defeat of reasonable Democratic candidates would depress the energies of any activist, as Deda wrote after the 2022 losses, but the Democrats of Transylvania didn't stop, didn't give up, kept recruiting good people to put their names on the ballot under the banner of Democrat. These folks represent the best of hope, endurance, and a vision for the future that doesn't include hurting other people.

Update From Transylvania County: Is Our Future Now Behind Us?

 

Guest Post by Deda Edney

It’s a few days after the mid-term election of 2022 in Transylvania County, North Carolina. I’ve read online that Democrats won seats across America beyond expectations, but, even from the top of this mountain, I can’t see one who did.

I also read that national analysts have colored our purple state red. Overnight. I feel disoriented, as if the future is somehow behind me.

Halfway down the mountain, I stop to watch some monarch butterfly stragglers on their way south to Mexico. I hope they come back a thousand fold.

From here I think I can see the dome of the State House in Raleigh, faintly glimmering far off to the east. Is that Governor Cooper with Attorney General Stein, stranded on a blue Democratic island in a red Republican sea? No! It turns out the NC Legislature is still hanging by a blue thread.

“But the state Supreme Court,” I think, squinting into the distance. “We’ve been so fortunate that a 4-to-3 majority of justices have supported the Governor.” Wait! A ceremony appears to be going on and two blue robes are turning red. It’s now a majority of five red to two blue!

From miles away a slight breeze cools my spirit; the door to the Chamber of Justice has just slammed shut.

I put on my sweater against the chill and go down to my county where it’s still Election Night. A loud party is going on in the camp of the Red Caps. I’m curious, so I walk over to a stout, bushy-whiskered figure in shorts and ask him for a comment.

“I’m standing in the back of the GOP headquarters celebrating,” he explains.

Then a small woman in a dress and very high heels briefly appears from the shadows. She’s murmuring something noncommittal, such as, “I’m pleased and excited.”

During the campaign, these two new School Board members told voters that it’s ok to arm teachers. This, they said, would keep the children safe during AR-15 rifle encounters.

So, now with the School Board at four red and one blue, we can expect … but I turn my head away.

Our schools do need attention. For years the Commission Board has chewed over the same question, “Should we or should we not spend your hard-earned tax money on more buckets to catch rainwater in classrooms?”

Once when the commissioners were close to a decision on this, one of them said, “Ok, but not one penny more.” As his words hung in the air, inflation pushed up the cost to 10 pennies more, and the project was again put in question.

Coming back to the reality of tonight’s revelers, I think, “Maybe the newly elected Republican Commissioner will finally talk the Board into helping out the kids!”

In his campaign T-shirt, he’s easy to find. “Excuse me," I say to him. “What will you do now for the people?”

“I’m enjoying my victory and will discuss my priorities later,” he says. “I’m trying to have fun here.”

This energetic fellow must have seen my confusion over what leadership should look like, because he twirled back around and added, “I did a lot of jobs and nobody was ever disappointed.” Then he disappeared into the shadows.

So that was my mid-fall night’s dream. But this morning the sun came up on a world that still needs our care.

I know in my heart that you don’t suddenly stop caring about the Earth, about each other or about health, education, voting rights, or human rights. Respect for the truth, for the law equally applied, and for social differences — all this matters today as much as it did a week ago.

American democracy still needs our help.

When you care about something going wrong, you show up. You speak up. And then you realize you’re not alone. The door to our county Democratic Headquarters is still open.

The County Commish Race in Transylvania County

Wise

Lauren Wise is about as qualified as a county commission candidate can be. He's served on the Transylvania Co planning board for five years, currently as its chair. He's an architect and clearly has an eye for planning and long-range policy. He's been a bridge-builder and consensus leader on the planning board -- which is majority Republican -- but Wise has reputedly gotten unanimous recommendations out of them. Which then promptly die in the hands of hard-right county commissioners.

For example, in 2017 a new comprehensive plan for Transylvania identified a stretch of US 276 in the southeastern part of the county known as Cedar Mountain, bordering Henderson Co and South Carolina (the area contains the DuPont State Forest; its "heart" is some 20 minutes from the county seat of Brevard) -- someone with development stars in his eyes put his thumb on Cedar Mountain and declared it a "Designated Growth Area/Commercial Node."

The whole area is "without public water and sewer" and its long-time residents went gulp at the idea of being transformed by devil-take-the-hindmost commercial development (hello, Pigeon Forge), so they petitioned the county commission with a comprehensive plan of their own, a plan championed by Lauren Wise which would carefully limit different types of development, and encourage other including affordable workforce housing, none of which has to negatively impact historical and cultural norms. Some stuck-in-the-mud and beholden-to-special-interest Republicans on the county commish went "eek, zoning!" and tabled any further consideration of the plan in October 2021. And there it rests.

Is Lauren Wise going to run into the "zoning" buzzsaw that has ruined so many political movements in rural counties?

The historic Transylvania Courthouse was built in the 1870s and has been outrageously neglected by skinflint Republican commissioners who have been much more married to low taxes (the only issue they care about) than they are to historic preservation. Apparently the place is not only run-down but dangerously run-down, with some plaster ceilings prone to collapse. That's according to a letter of official complaint that a senior judge addressed to the county commission. He outlined outdated design and cramped conditions "that allow close contact between, for example, accused criminals and the people they are accused of victimizing." Did the commish take action? No, another prime example of why change is needed in Transylvania County, according to Lauren Wise.

In 2018 a bond issue authorizing some $68 million "to pay the capital costs of constructing, improving, renovating and equipping school facilities" easily passed in Transylvania County, and Democrat Wise is campaigning against Republican dilly-dallying over using that bond:

“Commissioners have spent the four years since this voter-approved bond issue passed collecting taxes, stalling contract negotiations, questioning the ability of voters to understand the complexity of the issue . . . and suggesting that Clark Nexsen, one of the most respected school architects in the country, is somehow fleecing our county with fees,” Wise has said.

“They have done everything possible not to move forward.”

It's a pattern of conservative foot-dragging all too familiar, especially when it comes to building tax-supported infrastructure for the good of the wider community instead of services for purely commercial interests.

It would be a huge indication of changing plate tectonics if Lauren Wise were to win this race. And no big surprise if he doesn't.

Two seats are open on the commission. Three candidates are running -- two Republicans (one an incumbent) and Wise. Two of the three will be elected. 

The Best Little Party in the State

 

"Very red Transylvania County." Brevard is the county seat. Voters there haven't elected a Democrat to the county commission since 2006. Trump took 57% of the Transylvania vote in 2020. Madison Cawthorn, 56%. Those were big wins -- but nowhere close to the 70% that Trump took in some other rural NC counties. The star Democratic candidate on the local 2020 Transylvania ballot, the engaging and credible Sam Edney, lost to incumbent whippersnapper Jake Johnson, but Edney took over 44% of the vote. The hurdle to victory, six percentage points. I know it may be a dreamscape, but that's a number I could work with if I had a fired up bunch of Democrats with me.

The Democratic Party of Transylvania County is on fire, the good kind. While some rural county Democratic parties have essentially given up and sunk out of sight into visible despair, Transylvania Democrats are projecting enthusiastic muscle. They've produced a couple of smashing TV ads (one is shown below), and their website is possibly (probably) the best website for any county Democratic Party in the state (and that includes the website I've been desultorily involved with for going on 30 years).

They ran a Democrat for county commish in 2020, David Siniard. He came in 4th, so missed getting a seat, but his vote total was only 2.3% behind the 3rd-place Republican -- some 1,200 votes. That's already substantially cutting the Trump/Cawthorn margin. Can that be whittled all the way down this year? You bet it can.

This year, Transylvania Democrats have a strong, well prepared co commish candidate in Lauren Wise. I have just read a long, in-depth piece of reporting on him and his candidacy on the BrevardNewsBeat (and I'll have more to say about him). He has the marks of someone who could pull off an upset.

Especially if the Party can get out the vote, especially the women. Certainly, the homegrown ad that the Transylvania Party just produced can't hurt that effort (and confirms what some of us have been saying, that the Dobbs decision plays well even in rural counties). (And by the way, what a find Shay Donahue is!). (Another less-than-a-minute Transylvania spot highlighting education can be seen here.)

The Vampire Candidates of Transylvania County

Guest Post by Deda Edney

August 24, 2022

This fall there are two open seats on the Transylvania County Board of Education, with four candidates in the running. The two Democratic candidates include one incumbent. You can see their pictures on the county Democratic Party website.

Chris Wiener, promoting
the Convention of States

On the other hand, the two Republicans for school board are missing from their website’s picture gallery of candidates. They are known to the general community mainly by rumor, though there have been a few sightings.

Chris Wiener flies a Three Percenter flag in his front yard in Brevard, although he has said he doesn’t belong to that group because it’s not really a group.

At a 4th of July festival a few years ago, Chris recruited passers-by for the Convention of States, an organization that advocates limiting federal powers. His campaign yard sign claims he is a Christian Constitutional Conservative, with an elephant logo that suggests Republican.

Chris’ Facebook page celebrated July 4th with a call to arms, below. You could say this meme is just American history theater, but his Facebook likes include 1911 Builders (of handmade guns), 2nd Amendment Rights, and 2nd Amendment Supporters. Look them up.

At the August 23 school board meeting, Wiener used public speaking time to read Lincoln’s Lyceum speech, ending with, “… nothing left to be done in the way of building up, he would set boldly to the task of pulling down.” Was this a campaign speech about his intentions for our county school system?

The second Republican school board candidate, Tanya Dalton, has been seen recently at a meeting of the local chapter of Moms for Liberty but reportedly did not speak there. She has been known to speak, however, for her husband Jake, an incumbent Transylvania commissioner who is also on the ballot this fall. In one of his campaign videos, filmed outside a church, Tanya smiles up at Jake and tells us she “got him” with her ”sweet tea.” 

Barring an unexpected public statement, it seems fair to assume that a vote for Tanya will be a vote for Moms for Liberty. What does she want?

Moms for Liberty works with right-wing funding and Heritage Foundation strategies to replace school boards across the country. They use “parents’ rights” to rally “war moms,” overrule school administrators, and direct school policy, to ban and remove from school libraries books with racial, gender, sexual, historical, or “emotional” subject matter and replace them with their own, and to maintain a watch list for intimidation and offering bounties for teachers who don’t comply. If masks and other Covid precautions become important this winter, Tanya will fight them.

Deda Edney is a Transylvania County voter who writes a regular Substack blog, "Postcards from Deda."

Earthquake in Transylvania County

Transylvania County in red

Awoke to news posted on the Transylvania Times that three Republican county commissioners in Transylvania County have left the Republican Party en masse and changed their voter registrations to "unaffiliated." Two of those commissioners, Mike Hawkins and Page Lemel, are currently up for reelection in 2020. If they choose to run again (according to Derek McKissock), they'll have to get onto the ballot via petition. Mike Hawkins is currently the chair of the board. Commissioner David Guice, the third member who announced he was leaving the Republican Party, is vice chair but is not up for reelection in 2020.

The statement the three issued is open to interpretation but pregnant with implications about the current leadership of the Republican Party, from DeeCee to Raleigh. Just an excerpt:

...Naturally, citizens may be curious about our choice to disassociate from the Republican Party. Our reasoning falls along three broad areas.

First, we have clear notions of conservatism. To be conservative is to honor and preserve the fundamental institutions, processes, structures and rule of law, which have enabled the United States to be history’s greatest success story. To be conservative is to be financially prudent while also investing in common groundworks that support individual success for all citizens. To be conservative is to be welcoming and inclusive, understanding that all of us share the same human aspirations; conservative tenets of self-determination cannot be exclusive. To be conservative is to have a strong moral compass and the willingness to challenge wrong regardless of its source. We believe all of these are not merely conservative principles but American principles.

Next, we believe elected officials have a special duty to conduct themselves beyond reproach and make genuine efforts to represent all their constituents. Elected officials must strive to conduct all public and private actions with honor and integrity. Elected officials must value objective truth and, in turn, be truthful in their own statements and interactions. And elected officials must continually work to hear the voices of all while making hard decisions on behalf of their fellow citizens....

Watauga County at the Epicenter

National and even international media have been making a bee-line for Watauga County. We'll have potential gridlock among out of town media come E-Day tomorrow. McClatchy Newspaper Group, owners of the Charlotte Observer and the News & Observer of Raleigh -- and a bunch of other papers across the nation -- will be filming all day here, and a team from the BBC will also be in town. They come on the heels of MSNBC, PBS, and NPR who've already been here filming, recording, and interviewing.

Why all this attention? Because Watauga has been designated one of 50 bellwether counties in the whole nation. One reason for that: We're one of only four counties in the state with more unaffiliated voters than both Republicans and Democrats.

The unaffiliated vote is way up in early voting in North Carolina, and on that -- and perhaps that alone -- hinges the outcome. In Watauga alone, the unaffiliated vote outpaced both Republicans and Democrats:

Watauga Unaffiliated voters who voted early 7,683
Watauga Democratic voters who voted early 6,603
Watauga Republican voters who voted early 6,215

Those astounding numbers make Watauga almost completely unique in North Carolina. In only one other county -- Transylvania -- have the unaffiliated outvoted both national parties in early voting. (Sorry, Transylvania, but despite that you're not considered a bellwether.)

What does it all mean? We'll find out tomorrow night, but in the meantime we have our strong suspicions.