Edwin Peacock may have lost the race for Charlotte mayor Tuesday. But when one door shuts, another one opens. Almost as soon as Finance Chair Bob Rucho announced his retirement, speculation began that Peacock could be a candidate to succeed him in the State Senate.
Peacock has endured a string of losses lately – for Congress in 2012, and for mayor in 2013 and 2015. The good news is that those campaigns, while unsuccessful, have undoubtedly made him a recognizable name in the Charlotte area. That name recognition could come in handy if he decides serving in the State Senate is in his future.
Rucho’s district, the 39th, is solidly Republican. The real obstacle would be in the primary. Peacock has a reputation as a moderate, which everyone knows is not an asset with GOP primary voters. And while the former city councilman would have a name recognition advantage over his opponents, he’d likely be in a crowded field. There are a lot of Republicans in suburban Charlotte and they’re not going to step aside just because of Peacock.
Of course, this is all speculation. So far, Peacock hasn’t indicated any interest in Rucho’s seat. If he wants to run, he’ll have to file sometime next month, which doesn’t leave much time for rest after an exhausting campaign for mayor. He could need a break.
Some other Republicans who live in the district who could run: State Rep. Rob Bryan, Mecklenburg County Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour, retiring Rep. Jacqueline Schaffer, Elmo McCrory, and former mayoral candidate Scott Stone. While Democrats probably won’t be competitive here, they can at least take solace in the fact that it will be tough for the GOP to find a candidate as conservative as Rucho.
I’d take somebody twice as conservative if he just promised to be half as dickish.
Addendum: Take solace Apply Liberally, for we shall always have Larry Pittman.
If a Republican must win (because it’s a GOP gerrymandered district), and if the winner must be a neo-con, please, oh PLEASE, give us a candidate who will give us absurd posts on Twitter, and rote echo-chamber pablum like Rucho did!
We might as well be entertained, and NC might as well continue to be seen as a national laughingstock. Ya never know; that sort of continued demonstration of idiocy could help end this GOP reign of error much sooner.
NC is a “national laughingstock?” Only in far left circles. In the meantime, the state continues continues to out pace the national averages in new job creation, personal income growth and population in migration. Tax revenues continue to grow faster than projections and the state is ranked first in business climate thanks to GOP tax reforms.
So while liberals may be “entertained” by disparaging Republican successes, the tax and spend policies of preceding Democrat administrations have been throughly discredited.
NC’s unemployment rate is higher than the national average (NC=5.8, US=5.1). What “Carolina Comeback”? Major fail!
Who in the hell is Elmo McCrory?