NC-03: Gettin’ kinda crowded in here
We’ve got two more days left to file for this race. Apparently, there are a helluva lot of people with dreams of working in Washington, DC.
As of RIGHT NOW, we have FOUR DEMOCRATS, ELEVEN REPUBLICANS, ONE LIBERTARIAN, AND ONE CONSTITUTION PARTY candidate. And I am aware of at least another handful of folks who are seriously eyeing the race, but haven’t yet filed.
The Democrat field thus far includes: former Marine and NC House candidate Ike Johnson of Onslow, New Bern mayor Dana Outlaw, former US Senate candidate (2016 primary) Ernest Reeves, and retired Marine Col. Richard Bew. Bew has the eye of a lot of DC Democrats who see a chance at stealing a seat from the GOP with a centrist-leaning Democrat.
The GOP field THUS FAR: State Rep. Greg Murphy (Pitt), state Rep. Mike Speciale (Craven), state Rep. Phil Shepard (Onslow), Currituck County commissioner Paul Beaumont, former NCGOP vice-chairman Michele Nix, former Marine and perennial candidate Phil Law of Jacksonville, and political website publisher Jeff Moore of Raleigh.
Some lesser-known newcomers include Celeste Cairns of Emerald Isle, and Graham Boyd of Wake Forest. (Boyd ran for Congress in 2002 in the 13th, when it was centered around Raleigh.) Chimer Clark is a Carteret County-based owner of a generator installation business. Gary Ceres of Greenville is a library technician at East Carolina University.
The Libertarian banner is being carried by US Department of Defense employee Shannon Wilson Bray of Apex.
The Constitution Party banner is being carried by Greg Holt of New Bern. (He last sought a Craven County board of commissioners seat in 2018.)
I don’t want to hear ANY of you Third District people whining about not having any choices on the ballot. Not a one of you.
I was raised in Craven County. I still have family and friends there, and hope to move somewhere near the coast when I retire. I would encourage everybody down there to support Michael Speciale, the best constitutional conservative in the race. He had been a great friend and ally for me in the NC House. I will really miss him in Raleigh if he wins; but he is the man we need in Congress to replace Walter Jones, for sure.
If the Democrat plan to take the 3rd is based on running a Marine colonel backed by the national Democrats, the best bet for Republicans would be to run a Marine ourselves. The choices there are Rep. Mike Speciale, Francis deLuca, and Phil Law,. Speciale is the one with support within the party based on the 3rd District Republican Executive Committee straw poll, where Speciale finished first, followed by two non-Marines in second and third place.
Rep. Mike Speciale it the best choice if voters do not want to make the swamp bigger in DC
I am in for the guy with the proven track record in Raleigh. He has demonstrated his principles. Michael Speciale.
I see that Kinston’s Dr. Joan Perry has entered the race. The voters will have plenty of choice in the first round.
The current rumor is former mayor of Greenville Alan Thomas to throw his hat in the ring. Gov. Cooper appointed Thomas to head up the floundering sinkhole known as the Global Transpark.
Former mayor of Greenville Allen Thomas is in. And he will step down from his position at the Global Transpark. Holy moly. That is one fine job he is walking away from. A GTP job is like winning the lottery every day on tickets found on the floor. There will be more people lining up at the trough for the GTP job than are running in the 3rd for Congress.
With all the actual, real Conservatives we’ve lost in the NC General Assembly, we cannot afford to lose another.
If this is really about what is best for the state and nation, and not about personal vanity and ambition, Speciale should stay in Raleigh until we can reload, and back Jeff Moore.
If Speciale is elected, his legislative seat would be filled by his State House district Republican executive committee, which is also conservative, so conservatives would keep the seat – “reload” as you put it.
I am impressed with Jeff Moore, but conservatives need to unite behind one candidate if we are not going to get stuck with an establishment hack.
Jeff Moore is a solid conservative who is part of the generation that can keep conservatism alive in DC.
I don’t trust any Republican executive committee, and if you do, I feel sorry for you. That’s literally one of the biggest problems facing the NCGOP today.
Some of them are indeed very much not to be trusted by conservatives. The Craven GOP, however, is solidly conservative and voted for Womack at the last state convention, and I am sure will again.
A good example of that lack of trust is the manner in which Greg Murphy was illegally nominated to initially fill the vacancy in the State House, after his predecessor Brian Brown, who was Henry Hinton’s guy, resigned. Pitt County GOP Chairwoman Ginny Cooper called a snap meeting of the district executive committee for that state house district without giving the proper notice. That did not give time to vet candidates nor time for other candidates to consider getting into the race. It also was scheduled when one of the conservative members could not be there, and the committee only had 4 or 5 members. Cooper claimed she was doing so because if they did not nominate Murphy for the House vacancy, he would primary a GOP Senate incumbent in the next election, and that holding a quick meeting would prevent Henry Hinton from running a candidate. What she failed to tell was that Greg Murphy WAS the Henry Hinton candidate. After calling the meeting, Cooper was told by NCGOP counsel that a meeting without proper notice was illegal and its results void, and in fact the NCGOP actually sent someone to the meeting to reiterate that. Cooper ignored them and went on with the meeting anyway. One of the committee members also raised objection but was also ignored by Cooper. After Cooper rammed Greg Murphy’s nomination through the committee, local Republicans complained to NCGOP about her illegal and high-handed procedure. Henry Hinton then had Dallas Woodhouse by telephone on his morning radio show, and Woodhouse said on the air not to worry that “the doctor will get appointed”. Apparently proper and legal procedures do not mean much to Dallas Woodhouse either. And, of course, Murphy had to know the procedures being followed were improper but went along with them.
If the prospective vacancy were in Pitt, I would worry, but Craven is an entirely different situation, both more conservative and more honest.