Politics

McCall announces re-election campaign

By Bill Moss, Published: August 5, 2025

Rebecca McCall, who has had a leadership role on the Henderson County Board of Commissioners during the coronavirus pandemic, the Poplar Drive wildfire in Edneyville in 2023 and Hurricane Helene recovery, announced today that she will seek a third term on the board next year.

Besides those high-profile challenges, McCall has led efforts in farmland preservation, expanding daycare access and starting a mentoring program in middle and high schools.

“Since December of 2018, it has been my honor and pleasure to serve as Henderson County commissioner for District 4,” she said in a news release. “There have been multiple challenges during that time — from dealing with a pandemic, a major forest fire in Edneyville and, most recently, a catastrophic hurricane. During each of those major events, I discovered that Henderson County employees and citizens are the best of the best. Despite the severity of the challenge, we came together and endured.”

On the Board of Commissioners, she has served two years as vice chair and two as chair, and for the past five years has been the county’s representative on the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. She currently serves on the Advisory Board of Commissioners for MyFutureNC and the NCACC’s County Risk Group Committee. For two years, she served as director of the NCACC’s District 16.

As a county commissioner, she has served on the Planning Board, Transportation Advisory Committee, MPO, Library Board of Trustees, Rescue Squad Board, Parks & Rec Board, DSS Board, JCPC Advisory Council, liaison to Nursing and Advisory Council, liaison to Historic Museum Committee, Partnership for Economic Development Board, Ag Advisory Council and AgHC Board.

She also served on the five-member board during the construction of the new Edneyville Elementary School, new construction and renovation of Hendersonville High School, construction of a new EMS station in Fletcher, the purchase and renovation of the VFW building, renovation and construction of a new Patton Building at BRCC, expansion of the solid waste facility, completion of the first six miles of the Ecusta Trail and multiple upgrades to existing schools and county facilities including the upgrade and expansion of various parks.

“All of these projects have been accomplished without increasing the property tax rate,” she says. “In fact, following the state required revaluation of property, the local tax rate was lowered by 13 cents. Henderson County presently has the third lowest tax rate of counties exceeding 100,000 in North Carolina. There have also been numerous incentive agreements with companies who chose to move to Henderson County, which expanded the career opportunities.”

“However, when I am asked about the past 6½ years and what accomplishment I am most proud of, I always respond with the establishment of the Pathfinder mentoring program for the school system and the establishment of a Farmland Preservation Program,” she says. “These are both new programs where we are planning for the future of the county and the direction it will go.

A ninth-generation native of the county, McCall raised her own family in Henderson County and is “proud that my three children are raising their families (seven grandchildren) in Henderson County.”

She retired in 2017 from Hubbell Lighting and before that worked for nine years in various engineering positions for GE Lighting Systems, where she took part in the plant’s Six Sigma Black Belt training program. She is a graduate of Brevard College (earning a junior college diploma), Blue Ridge Community College (associate degree in mechanical drafting & design technology) and Montreat College (bachelor of business administration).

McCall’s is one of three seats on the ballot in 2026. Board Chair Bill Lapsley announced last month that he is not running for re-election in District 3, where three Republican candidates have said they will run. Commissioner Michael Edney said he expects to announce his intentions soon.

The next five years is likely to see the completion of the costliest capital project in the county’s history — the $171 million courthouse-jail expansion — plus other major work.

“There are other projects in the works that I would like to see through to completion,” McCall says. “These are the Berkeley Park Sports Complex, the expansion of the detention center and courthouse (JCAR), the Clear Creek/Edneyville sewer project, the completion of the last eight miles of Ecusta Trail in Henderson County, the establishment of the Water/Sewer Commission with the city of Hendersonville, and the continued expansion of Pathfinders and Farmland Preservation. Therefore, after much prayer, I have decided to run for a third term in 2026. I appreciate the support I have received from the citizens of Henderson County thus far and, if the voters desire, I look forward to serving for an additional four years.”

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