ONE US House seat. 17 GOP candidates. (Welcome to campaign 2016.)

crowd-business-peopleWell, filing for the special June primary ended yesterday.  And we here at Haymaker HQ are not envying the Republican voters of the new 13th congressional district.  Apparently, every Tom, Dick,Harry & Kay in the GOP carnival tent has decided he (or she) wants to represent these folks, for at least two years, in the big city of Washington.

With THAT many candidates, and no runoff, the GOP nominee could very well end up being someone who pulls in a vote percentage in the high single-digits.  *Some mandate.*

Let’s take a closer look at this 17-deep gaggle of GOP congressional wannabes.  We’ve got Harry Warren, Julia Howard, and John Blust from the NC House, and Andrew Brock from the Senate.  So, Jones Street is well-represented. 

Two candidates who WERE running in other districts are now part of the scrum for the 13th. George Rouco, who was primarying Robert Pittenger in the 9th, is now a candidate for the new 13th seat.  Kay Daly, who moved down to Moore County from DC to run against Renee Ellmers in the 2nd, has filed for the new 13th.  (She is joined in the GOP field by her longtime political ally Vernon Robinson.) 

Two county commissioners are also in on the GOP fight.  Former gubernatorial candidate Dan Barrett currently serves on the Davie County board of commissioners.  Hank Henning currently serves on the Guilford County board of commissiconfusedoldoners.

The Democrat field for this seat is only four-deep.  It includes Mazie Ferguson — fresh off her Labor Commissioner loss — and Bruce Davis, a former candidate in the 6th district.