Candidate Filing Has Closed for the NC-3 Special Election

Some 17 Republicans (gasp!), six Democrats, two Libertarians, and one member of the Constitution Party have filed for the Congressional seat that was left vacant by the death of Rep. Walter B. Jones.

Richard Bew

A run-off primary in July seems almost inevitable, especially on the Republican side. On the Democratic side, we've already paid attention to Richard Bew, who might be the frontrunner, and to a couple of his opponents for the Democratic nomination, Ike Johnson and Dana Outlaw. Here is what I can find out about the other two:

Earnest T. Reeves -- Reeves is a familiar figure in eastern North Carolina. He ran in the Democratic primary for US Senate in 2014 and lost to Kay Hagan. In November 2015 he ran for mayor of Greenville, but was defeated by incumbent Mayor Allen Thomas (about which, see below). Reeves then ran in the Democratic primary for US Senate in March 2016 and lost to Deborah Ross. He also ran in the general election in June 2016 for the 3rd Congressional District seat against incumbent Republican Walter Jones, and lost. In April 2017 he was one of two finalists to replace David Hammond on the Pitt County Board of Commissioners but lost to Ann Huggins. In November 2017 he ran again for mayor of Greenville, but was defeated by city council member P.J. Connelly. He ran in the Democratic primary in 2018 for the NC House, got only 799 votes, and lost to Kandie Smith who went on to win the seat last November. He's a retired United States Army Communications Officer. According to his website, Reeves is "a disabled and combat zone veteran who currently serves as an entrepreneur, mentor, advisor, counselor, and advocate for the elderly and people in need on a case-by-case basis."

Allen Thomas -- Thomas was elected mayor in Greenville for three terms before resigning during his third term in June of 2017 to become executive director of the Global Transpark in Kinston (which should mean he has a leg up for fundraising). He got some star treatment when he announced on Thursday and would appear to be Richard Bew's chief competitor for the nomination. He's polished.





Full disclosure: I'm a contributor to the Richard Bew campaign.

Could This Ex-Marine Put the NC-3 Special Election in Play for Democrats?

Richard "Otter" Bew

Retired Marine Col. Richard “Otter” Bew announced yesterday that he will be running in the Democratic primary on April 30th in the first step toward running in the special election in NC-3 on July 9th to fill out the term of Rep. Walter B. Jones, who died last month. (News about other Democrats in this primary, included below.)

Bew completed the Platoon Leaders Course in Quantico in 1988, received a degree in Philosophy from Lehigh University in 1989, and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Marines. He became a naval aviator in 1991.

He retired from the Marines last fall after 29 years in the service. He served in Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, and Serbia, and he already knows some of the doorways and secret knocks on Capitol Hill, having served as deputy legislative assistant to Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He also served as a legislative aide to the Commandant of the Marine Corps, and he earned a master's degree in international public policy at Johns Hopkins.

In other words, he's a richly experienced, smart dude to try for a seat in Congress, and he does remind us of the many ex-military personnel who ran strong campaigns last fall as Democrats, from Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania to Amy McGrath in Kentucky.

"Otter" Bew was watching those races too: “When I saw folks like that step out and run really good campaigns and do so with a different kind of dialogue — one that’s inclusive — and stay on target, the thing that I took most from that is inspiration that this can be done,” Bew said.

He's sensing a seismic shift in the voting public, a change that produced last fall the largest turnover of Congressional seats since Watergate, and even a deeply red district like the NC Third, which gave DJT 60% of the vote in 2016, can produce surprises, especially in a special election. “I got strong feedback that folks who normally would have opposed a candidate from the Democratic Party are more open to it now,” Bew said. “You have to really be ignoring some clear evidence of how [the US is] viewed in the world and how we’re performing in the world to still be sticking — with the same level of your conviction — with your vote from two years ago.”

There's some wishful thinking in that assessment, no doubt, but there's also a creeping reality.

Bew says he won't accept corporate PAC money. He puts health care issues at the top of what motivates him for office, and he acknowledges climate change as a major defining problem going forward.. 

He has professional help, obviously, judging from his website. 

Other Democrats in the April 30th Primary

Filing ends this Friday, so there may be additional candidates by Saturday, but at the moment:

Isaiah "Ike" Johnson, also a retired (1999) U.S. Marine who mentors students in Onslow County Schools. Johnson is African-American and ran unsuccessfully last fall for the NC House District 14 seat, receiving 41% of the vote in that race.

Dana Outlaw, New Bern’s mayor (since 2013) and the owner of a self-storage business and real estate consulting and appraisal business. 

Ollie Nelson, another retired African-American Marine and a Jacksonville pastor. 

Republicans Also Competing to Replace Walter Jones in Congress

There are currently at least four, one more wacko-conservative than the next (Michael Speciale ... really!). We'll wait to see who wins the primary in April before we waste our time researching all of them.

Footnote

If no candidate in either party primary fails to win 30% of the vote on April 30th, the 2nd primary will fall on July 9th, with the special election proper pushed to September 10.

2018 North Carolina Congressional Races--Lay of the Land

Keep in mind that filing for office in 2018 doesn't end until the last day of February, so there will be flux to come in the races below, both primaries and -- hence -- general elections.


District 1
Incumbent Democrat G.K. Butterfield [safe]
Solid Democratic district.


District 2
Incumbent Republican George Holding [?]
Holding already has a primary opponent and a wave of Democrats who want to take him on. The Cook people put Holding in the "Competitive Races" category, but leaning Republican decidedly.

Allen Chesser, his Republican primary opponent, attacks Holding for not holding town halls (ping Virginia Foxx). He doesn't return phone calls. He ignores his constituents. He's never accessible. Chesser is a younger Iraq war veteran and a pretty standard foot-soldier for conservative talking points. He's a Steve Bannon wet dream, is what he is.

Sam Searcy

The Democratic primary could get even more interesting with the entry of Linda Coleman, a high-profile African American public servant and former candidate who ran twice statewide for lieutenant governor. She'll get big backing and can raise money. But the district is 74% white. Dunno if that means anything necessarily, not in a wave year.

The entry of Coleman may have persuaded ASU alum Sam Searcy, who had previously announced for the seat and was raising money, to drop out and run for an NC Senate seat instead. (Searcy has become an entrepreneur businessman and a manufacturer of a local brand of Vodka, and he might beat Tamara Barringer, the incumbent Republican state senator. He looks like a wave candidate to us.)

Other Democrats running in the 2018 primary: businessman Ken Romley and transgender veteran Wendy Ella May. (Scoff not. Remember what happened recently in Virginia?) "Romley, 52, was the CEO of Zift Solutions, a marketing software company based in Cary that employs about 200 people, until he stepped down last month to run for office."

District 3
Incumbent Republican Walter Jones [safe]
Solid Republican district. Jones, a total fuck-you maverick and hence admirable in doses, is safe unless he gets knocked off in a primary, of which there will certainly be one. Put your money on Jones.


District 4
Incumbent Democrat David Price [safe]

Richard Watkins

David Price will have a loser Republican opponent in November (whichever of at least two candidates wins the Republican primary), but he'll have his own primary too.

Richard Watkins, a young African American Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology, is challenging Price. Looks like a generational contest to me, and a potentially important one. Watkins probably can't beat David Price, but I'm glad he might be a once and future candidate. We need more young scientists on the ballot.

District 5
Incumbent Republican Virginia Foxx [safe]
Yuck. The consensus is always "she can't be beat." Anyone can be beat. Anything can happen in a wave.

Two Democrats, both impressive women, are vying in the primary to take Foxx on next November. We'll know come middle of May who the candidate will be.

District 6
Incumbent Republican Mark Walker [safe]
The district is solid Republican, but there's a small gaggle of Democrats massing to challenge Walker. Walker is a charismatic Baptist preacher and the slayer of Phil Berger Jr. in the Republican primary of  2014, for which he will always be memorialized.


District 7
Incumbent Republican David Rouzer [safe]
Rated solid Republican district.

Jonah Gardner

Two Democrats so far have gotten in the race. Dr. Kyle Horton, an internal medicine doctor and a woman, announced way back in May, followed in June by Jonah Gardner, a computer programmer and IT professional. This 2018 crop of young activists of both sexes (thank you, Donald J. Trump!) inspires new confidence and old hope.

District 8
Incumbent Republican Richard Hudson [safe]
Solid Republican district (but it's a lot of suburbs, bro, and the suburbs is where the turn will come). No considerable Democrat has stepped forward yet.


District 9
Incumbent Republican Robert Pittenger [?]
Cook calls this district competitive but "likely Republican" (a moment which may be slipping away).

Pittenger may not make it through his primary with Baptist firebrand Mark Harris (who knows a special place in hell for those who disagree with the Lord him and who almost beat Pittenger in the primary of 2016).

Dan McCready

On the Democratic side: Front-runner Dan McCready, along with Christian Cano, who ran for the seat in 2016,  and Maria Warren, an attorney, will face off in May. All the smart money's on McCready, who could beat Pittenger and will beat Rev. Harris, should he prevail in the primary.

District 10
Incumbent Republican Patrick McHenry [safe]
Despite being high up in leadership in Congress, McHenry usually draws a primary opponent, and 2018 will be no different. But he also hasn't drawn a stand-out Democrat yet.


District 11
Incumbent Republican Mark Meadows [safe]
Meadows has made a name for himself in Washington as The Man Who Shut Down Government in 2013, a badge he wears happily among the conservative voters of the 11th District and unhappily among the Republican leadership in Washington. He's a pain in the ass tool of ALEC.

Meadows has a dark horse Republican by the name of Christopher Money running against him in a primary.

For awhile two Democrats wanted to run against Meadows. Matt Coffay, a leader in the Asheville chapter of Our Revolution, got into the race with a splash back in April but pulled out in July. Scott Donaldson announced in September. He's a 53-year-old urologist from Hendersonville who has made "a name for himself in certain circles with a series of YouTube videos, radio show appearances and even a published book."

District 12
Incumbent Democrat Alma Adams [safe]
Safe Democratic seat. But Adams does have one Republican announced against her. Yawn.


District 13
Incumbent Republican Tedd Budd [?]
Cook rates this district "competitive" but "likely Republican." Democrats are massing to challenge

Adam Coker

the relatively indistinctive Budd.

Adam Coker also ran for this seat in 2016 in a crowded field but lost the primary. His big issue is health insurance and he wants to win by getting Republicans to vote for him (a fool's errand). His Democratic opponents include Kathy Manning, "a former immigration lawyer who is well known in her district for her philanthropy," and Beniah McMiller, a 36-year-old African American teacher at Mitchell Community College in Statesville.

The Republicans Who Voted No

These are the Republicans who voted against the tax bill on Monday, and they will likely vote against it again today when it comes up for a re-do:

Walter Jones

Rep. Dan Donovan, New York
Rep. John Faso, New York
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, New Jersey
Rep. Darrell Issa, California
Rep. Walter Jones, North Carolina
Rep. Peter King, New York
Rep. Leonard Lance, New Jersey
Rep. Frank LoBiondo, New Jersey
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, California
Rep. Christopher Smith, New Jersey
Rep. Elise Stefanik, New York
Rep. Lee Zeldin, New York

The New York and New Jersey reps are probably among the most endangered Rs in the upcoming mid-terms and are justifiably trying to save their bacon. North Carolina's Walter Jones, a former Democrat and a once and future pain in leadership's ass, issued a statement saying he saw no logic in borrowing a couple of trillion dollars from China in order to give rich people a tax break. No logic whatsoever.

The Darrell Issa and Dana Rohrabacher no votes are the clearest indication you're likely to get that smart Republicans see a Democratic wave coming in 2018. Issa won reelection in 2016 with a 1,600-vote margin, a tighter than expected outcome, and he's been raising money for 2018 as fast as he can.

Rohrabacher, who second only to Trump loves Vladimir Putin more than bacon fat, has attracted plenty of negative publicity, and his reelection is already rated a toss-up (as is Issa's for that matter) before anyone even knows which of approximately 300 willing Democratic candidates will win the privilege to face him.

The North Carolina Connection to the Downfall of Kevin McCarthy

McCarthy & Ellmers

At 8 a.m. yesterday morning, as Republican House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy was approaching a noon nomination and probable election in the Republican House Caucus as the new Speaker of the House, he received an email from a conservative Chicago activist with the subject line, “Kevin, why not resign like Bob Livingston?”

Bob Livingston, O my brethren, was the replacement Speaker chosen by the Republican caucus back when a sex scandal drove Newt Gingrich out of the House in 1998. Livingston was promptly scuttled by his own sex scandal. That's when the Republicans of that day found Denny Hastert hiding in a back room and elevated him to the speakership, because everybody said that Denny had never had sex with anyone (little did they know!).

Anyhoo, according to Huffington Post, the "why don't you resign" email yesterday morning amounted to a threat of being outed publicly for an alleged romantic, extra-marital affair with North Carolina Congresswoman Renee Ellmers. Ellmers, as a matter of fact, was also a recipient of that 8 a.m. poison email. Apparently, if you're anybody in DeeCee, or hang out at the Capitol Lounge or the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill, you've known about the McCarthy-Ellmers rumor for months!

Following that 8 a.m. threatening email, McCarthy was then treated to a very public letter written by NC 3rd Dist. Congressman Walter Jones, which contained its own potent threat. Though the letter was addressed to the Republican Conference Chair, who would be running the caucus meeting at noon, it got wide distribution and without any doubt got into the hands of Kevin McCarthy.

Jones wrote, "With all the voter distrust of Washington felt around the country, I am asking that any candidate for Speaker of the House, majority leader, and majority whip withdraw himself from the leadership election if there are any misdeeds he has committed since joining Congress that will embarrass himself, the Republican Conference and the House of Representatives if they become public."

What did Walter Jones know and when did he know it?

Oh, okay, Jones has denied that he was writing about Kevin McCarthy specifically, if you want to believe it. And McCarthy has denied that Ellmers or Jones had anything whatsoever to do with his decision, if you want to believe that.

Meadows & Jones Don't Support Boehner

The attractively orange-hued John Boehner was reelected as Speaker of the U.S. House yesterday, though two North Carolina Republicans voted against him -- Mark Meadows of the 11th and Walter Jones of the 3rd congressional districts

Meadows is the Tea Party "architect" of the 2013 government shutdown and is clearly also willing to shut off John Boehner's water. He's twice as "principled" as Virginia Foxx, who is a notorious toady to the power-structure.

Walter Jones is the former Democrat who often enjoys twisting Republican titty, so what did he have to lose? Jones supports raising the minimum wage, so he's already well outside the mainstream of the contemporary Republican Party.

Apparently, Meadows is completely unafraid of getting a dead fish in his mail slot.

Fat Cats Are Purring This Morning

Merry Christmas, Wall Street!

You rolled the president again, got rid of a part of Dodd-Frank in the "cromnibus" so you can once again take huge risks on derivatives and get a guaranteed government bailout when everything goes south. Sweet!

You bet that Virginia Foxx voted for The Omnibus All-the-Crap-You-Can-Eat Budget Bill. She does not buck the establishment. The rest of the Republicans in the North Carolina delegation voted "yes" too, except for Walter Jones (who does buck the establishment, regularly) and Mark Meadows, the tea-bagger from the NC-11.

Also voting "yes"-- and it's a puzzlement -- was Democrat David Price. The other three Democrats from North Carolina -- Alma Adams, G.K. Butterfield, and even Mike McIntyre -- voted "no." Since the Omnibus Crap Fest needed 218 votes and barely got 219, we've decided to blame everything on David Price. Or Virginia Foxx. Yeah, Foxx is better! The wicked step-mother of woe.

Maybe Price got one of those calls from President Obama last night before the vote. The president was "whipping" Democrats to get them to vote yes, according to Rep. Maxine Waters, along with J.P. Morgan's chief executive Jamie Dimon, who was also whipping Democrats. When it comes to Wall Street, you can successfully whip some Democrats with wet noodles, let alone with CEO Jamie Dimon.

The Democrat who comes out of this colossal cluster-f**k with her integrity intact is Elizabeth Warren, who highlighted what was transpiring and tried to rally the troops. Of course, the Senate will pass this bilge later today over her objections, but as a voice for the people, Warren's standing is only enhanced.

A Soldier Deserts From "Those Radical Nut-Jobs"

Jason Thigpen of Wilmington, who got mentioned here last August as a Republican candidate for office who called the new voter ID law a "turd," is making news again by switching to the Democratic Party in his quest to unseat 3rd District Republican Walter Jones (who himself was once upon a time a Democrat).

Don't have any idea whether Mr. Thigpen, who also ran unsuccessfully against Jones in a very crowded Republican primary in 2012, has a ghost's chance at an exorcist convention, but his statement breaking with the Republican Party is just another indication of how far off planet earth the Tea Party-dominated NCGOP has veered:

"...I simply cannot stand with a Party where its most extreme element promote hate and division amongst people. Nothing about my platform has, nor will it change. The government shutdown was simply the straw that broke the camels back. I guess being an American just isn’t good enough anymore and I refuse to be part of an extremist movement in the GOP that only appears to thrive on fear and hate mongering of anyone and everyone who doesn’t walk their line. We’ve received some wonderful support by numerous leaders and members within the NC GOP, as the vast majority of Republicans are wonderful, hard-working people that don’t agree with those radical nut-jobs either but unfortunately the extremists in the party, with their ‘burn it all down’ philosophy, appear to be the ones turning out the majority of voters in the primaries and mid-term elections. And I want the people to know there is a choice.”

A sign of the times.

How They Voted in the NC Delegation

On the Billionaire Coup Act of 2011, a.k.a., Debt Ceiling and Deficit Reduction Surrender:

Democrat Heath Shuler voted yes
Republican Howard Coble voted yes
Republican Renee Ellmers voted yes
Republican Virginia Foxx voted yes
Republican Patrick McHenry voted yes
Republican Sue Myrick voted yes

Republican Walter Jones voted no
Democrat G.K. Butterfield voted no
Democrat Larry Kissell voted no
"Democrat" Mike McIntyre voted no
Democrat Brad Miller voted no
Democrat David Price voted no
Democrat Mel Watt voted no

Virginia Foxx, Out of the Closet

She's been coy at times about privatizing (a.k.a., eliminating) Medicare, but with her vote last Friday she's fully on record (with all her Republican pals except for four brave souls) in support of Congressman Ryan's Big Scheme to defund Medicare. Not one Democratic Rep voted for this Black Frost of a budget plan.

No need for Death Panels, eh, Congresswoman? Every old, poor person can get to their dirt couch without delay under your vision of the future.

The Republican non-believers? David McKinley of West Virginia (sudden heart palpitations in the Kingdom of Coal?), Walter Jones of North Carolina (!), Ron Paul of Texas (!!), and Denny Rehberg of Montana.

Why We Like Nancy Pelosi

Shortly before 4 p.m. today, the House passed an extension of the Bush tax cuts for people making less than $250,000 on a vote of 234 - 188. Most Republicans voted against it (including Duchess Virginia Foxx), but Ron Paul (R of Texas) and Walter Jones (R of North Carolina) voted for it. Tea Partiers might like to cogitate on that during commercial breaks for the Glenn Beck Show. (And BTW, Heath Shuler, who had opposed Nancy Pelosi for leadership in the 112th Congress, also voted for it.)

'Course, we all know that while the Dems in the U.S. House were standing strong against giving the store away to the very rich, President Obama was busy behind the scenes trying to get them to cave, along with him and the effing Senate. to the effing rich-obsessed Republicans.

Foxx: Friend-of-the-Court But No Friend of Gays

Virginia Foxx is one of 30-some Republican members of Congress who are sticking their noses into governmental decisions in the District of Columbia. Foxx, little Patty McHenry, and Walter Jones from N.C., along with 36 others, have signed a friend-of-the-court brief demanding a voter referendum on gay marriage.

The Foxx loves her some WEDGE issues, don't she now?

The D.C. City Council recently voted overwhelmingly to allow same-sex marriage. A local church leader, Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope Christian Church, sued in D.C. Superior Court to force a referendum, which most people figger would fail, especially once the fundies and other right-wing fringe groups saturated the atmosphere with smears, fears, and queers.

Madam Foxx, who once upon a time was a good deal more accommodating to gay Americans, having supported decades ago the right of gay couples to adopt children, ought to be ashamed of herself now, but isn't, nor is she embarrassed to be pursuing this kind of politics.

Beware the person who can't be embarrassed.

The Money That Endangers Democracy

Hat-tip to James at BlueNC for publicizing the DemocracyNC study of "Healthcare and Insurance Campaign Contributions to North Carolina Members of Congress." Fifth Dist. Congresswoman Madam Doctor Virginia Foxx is among four NC reps who've taken in over $180,000 from the health industry, and we know the garbage that falls out of her mouth.

But Sen. Dick Burr is the grand champion money-raker from these particular special interests. He's banked $1,674,101, "or almost three times the $630,949 raised by number two, Rep. Sue Myrick (R-Charlotte)."

All the North Carolina Republicans in Congress oppose health-care reform (with the possible exception of Walter Jones), and they will of course deny that these outrageous mounds of health-industry cash have anything to do with their attitudes. We believe 'em, right?

We expect Republican elected officials to side always with the rich and powerful. More disturbing are the $$ some of our Democrats are swallowing, particularly Sen. Kay Hagan and 11th Dist. Congressman Heath Shuler. Both tend to the "blue" end of the spectrum and have at various times expressed longing to protect the interests of big insurance monopolies.

As for Rep. Jones of the NC-3, he's a special (admirable) case (though we doubt very seriously that he'll ever vote for a final health-reform bill):

Of the twelve NC members of Congress in office during 2004-2008, Rep. Walter B. Jones Jr. (R-Farmville) got the least amount from the pharmaceutical industry -- a total of only $7,000 over three campaigns. Jones is also the only Republican from North Carolina who voted for requiring Medicare to use its purchasing power to negotiate lower drug prices, for encouraging the use of generics, and for allowing the import of FDA-approved prescription drugs.

Rep. Jones says the perceived relationship between votes and campaign money damages "public trust" in Congress. In fact, he is the main Republican sponsor of the Fair Elections Now Act (HR-1826), which would provide a public campaign option in Congressional elections, similar to the program now in place for appellate court judges in North Carolina. At a hearing on the legislation in July, Rep. Jones used the drug industry's political clout as the example of why reform is needed.

Bloc of Republican Congressmen Won't Endorse McCain

On the list of those openly withholding their endorsement is NC's Walter "Freedom Fries" Jones, who's not with McCain on the Iraq War (which means he's not much with McCain).

"Jones ... said he can't back McCain until he gets 'a better explanation of the plans for Iraq and more discussion on the economy.' Jones added that no one from McCain's campaign has reached out to him."

Another NC congresscritter, Sue Myrick, refused to say whether she endorses McCain.

Apparently Madam Foxx, who early on endorsed Romney, has obediently saluted the McCain candidacy. It's not like the Madam to buck the bosses.