#nc-02: D’Annunzio dives into US House fray
We warned you. And now it’s happened. Deep-pocketed Raeford businessman Tim D’Annunzio filed Tuesday for the GOP primary for North Carolina’s Second congressional district. He and Jim Duncan are the only two Republicans who have officially signed on the dotted line for the race. No Democrats have filed. And neither has incumbent Renee Ellmers, nor reported challengers Kay Daly or Frank Roche. (Former NCDOT secretary Tony Tata is also rumored to be considering the race.)
Longtime political observers may remember D’Annunzio for his 2010 primary run in the Eighth District, where he publicly clashed with then-NCGOP chairman Tom Fetzer. He lost that primary bid in a runoff, but went on to become the GOP nominee in the Fourth District in 2012. He was defeated in that race by incumbent Democrat David Price. In 2014, D’Annunzio ran for the Libertarian nomination for US Senate. He came up short in that race to eventual nominee Sean Haugh.
Filing ends Monday. Who knows what other news stories may emerge between now and then?
Dang it! I wish Tim had run as an Independent. The strategy would be to make sure Ellmers loses. If she lucks up and beats Jim Duncan in the primary, she should face a conservative in the November election that would siphon off just enough votes to deny her the reelection. This is the tactic was used by a hard leftist (Ralph Nader) to deny “moderate Democrats” like Gore and Kerry from winning against GW Bush. Liberal Republican, John Warner, also financed an effort to stop Mike Ferris from winning the 1995 Lt Gov race. It was a GOP landslide in that state, but Warner’s anti-Christian bigotry made Ferris the lone exception. Warner wanted Ferris to lose more badly than he wanted the GOP to win. We need that same attitude to exist in the Ellmers Congressional race as well. Another primary challenger is NOT the way to achieve this goal.
D’Annunzio doesn’t even live in District 2. He’s run three times already – the people have spoken. He sounds like another candidate who just keeps running. For what purpose?
Maybe he should run instead in a district with a squishy incumbent who does not now have a conservative challenger like district 7 or 8.
Now that the Club for Growth has shown who conservatives are uniting behind, it is also time for Kay Daly to find another race, and the ideal one would be to run against liberal Solyndra Republican Sen. Jerry Tillman
I grew to like and respect Tim during our primary campaign. I wish him good luck!