GOP At-Large Commissioners Slate Set
Tuesday’s primary election yielded an abysmally low 7.3 percent voter turnout in Mecklenburg County, but spirits were soaring high at election night party headquarters for Corey Thompson, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools teacher who had just aced his first big-time political exam.
Thompson ran third in the GOP at-large commissioners race, behind top vote-getters Jim Pendergraph and Dan Ramirez. All three advance to this fall’s at-large tilt against Democrat incumbents Jennifer Roberts, Harold Cogdell and Dan Murrey, in what promises to be a pivotal race that could shift majority control of the board to Republicans for the first time in nearly a decade.
Flanked by a crowd of supporters Tuesday night, Thompson said he was ready for the fight.
“We didn’t get in this race to win a primary,” he said. “We got in this race to re-establish conservative values in Mecklenburg County.”
Indeed, many of Thompson’s supporters, who helped him run a grassroots campaign short on cash and long on gusto, self-identify as conservatives first, Republicans second. Two of Thompson’s campaign advisors – Matthew Ridenhour and Tariq Bokhari – are members of the Tea Party movement, and on Tuesday night Thompson gave special recognition to members of CAUTION, a local political activist group with Tea Party roots.
Thompson said the top issues facing Mecklenburg County are crime, schools and job creation, and in what is likely to be a recurring campaign theme moving forward he noted that the three GOP at-large candidates are a former sheriff, a teacher, and a small business owner.
“You can’t get any better than that,” Thompson said.
Ramirez, a small business owner who previously served as a county commissioner for two terms, said the Republican at-large candidates should stand united moving forward, presenting a message that focuses on delivering core government services while reducing spending.
Pendergraph, who served as Mecklenburg’s sheriff from 1994 to 2007, said his goal was to re-build the public’s trust in its elected officials, and pointed to several examples where he said the board of commissioners’ current Democrat majority had failed on that count.
“We have a DSS (Department of Social Services) mess and nobody’s taking responsibility for it,” Pendergraph said. “We have out-of-control spending and nobody’s taking responsibility for it. The people of Mecklenburg County deserve better, and we’re going to give it to them.”
Doing so would likely depend on Republicans winning at least two of the three at-large seats up for grabs in November, to wrest control from Democrats who currently hold a 6-3 majority on the board. Incumbent Republican district commissioners Bill James, Neil Cooksey and Karen Bentley are all running unopposed this fall. Incumbent Democrat Vilma Leake coasted to victory in her primary Tuesday night and squares off in November’s general election against Lee Ann Patton, in a district that leans heavy Democrat.
“Most people don’t think I can beat Vilma in such a gerrymandered district,” Patton said Tuesday night. “I’m going to do my best to prove them wrong.”
With all precincts reporting Tuesday night, unofficial results had Pendergraph at the top of the GOP at-large pack with 30 percent of votes cast, followed by Ramirez with 24 percent and Thompson with 13 percent. Three-term Huntersville town commissioner Charles Jeter finished a tight fourth with 11.5 percent, trailed by Tim McCleod, Darryl Broome, Larry Shannon and David Rice.
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