Lee Buchanan
editor@thefranklinpress.com
State Rep. Kevin Corbin filed for the state Senate District 50 seat on Monday, while Macon County commissioner Karl Gillespie filed to fill Corbin’s current House District 120 seat as candidate filing for the 2020 primaries got underway Monday.
Corbin will be challenged for the Republican nomination by Sarah Katherine Conway of Highlands, who also filed on Monday. They are running to fill the seat now held by retiring state Sen. Jim Davis.
No one has yet filed to run against Gillespie in the Republican primary for the House seat.
In other filings, Trevor M. Fuller of Charlotte and Steve Swenson of Bunnlevel in Harnett County filed to run for the Democratic nomination for governor. Holly Grange of Raleigh filed for the Republican nomination. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has not said whether he will run for a second term.
Gary Tallent, deputy director of the Macon County Board of Elections, said Tuesday that the dust has settled in the run-up to the 2020 primary set for Tuesday, March 3, 2020.
“Everything’s going fine,” Tallent said.
Election officials got the go-ahead on Monday to open filing for congressional candidates after judges approved the newly redrawn congressional maps for use in the 2020 election. A panel of judges had granted a temporary injunction in October to block the redrawn map from being used in 2020.
Three Democrats – Moe Davis of Asheville, Michael O’Shea of Henderson County and Steve Woodsmall from Transylvania County –filed for the 2020 primary to oppose U.S. Rep Mark Meadows, who has yet to file.