Politics

Buncombe candidate files for Senate (and it's not Tim Moffitt)

By Bill Moss, Published: December 21, 2015

Lisa Carpenter Baldwin, a former one-term Buncombe County School Board member, filed for the 48th state Senate District on Monday, creating a three-way primary for the Republican nomination.

The biggest news as the filing period closed at noon Monday might have been that the state Senate candidate from Buncombe was not Tim Moffitt, the former state House member who Henderson County Republicans said had expressed an interest in the seat. Some Henderson County Republican Party leaders were not keen on a Moffitt run, lining up instead to support Edwards, the McDonald's franchisee and a former chair of the Henderson County Chamber of Commerce who has never held elective office.

Dennis Justice of Fletcher has also filed for the seat currently held by Sen. Tom Apodaca. The only Democrat to file was Norm Bossert, a school principal from Pisgah Forest who lost a 2014 contest to state Rep. Chris Whitmire.

Baldwin, who won election to the Buncombe County School Board in 2010 and lost re-election last year, told the Asheville Citizen-Times on Monday that her school board service had given her background in the state budgeting process.

"I oppose Common Core and am an advocate for more rigorous academic standards," she told the Asheville newspaper. "I also support fiscal responsibility and budget reform."

Barring an unusual write-in campaign, incumbent Henderson County commissioners Charlie Messer and Grady Hawkins are headed for new terms with no opposition. The same holds true for state Rep. Chuck McGrady, who drew no opponent.

Running for Henderson County School Board are incumbents Ervin Bazzle, Mary Louise Corn, Rick Wood and Josh Houston and challengers Michael Absher, Jared Michael Bellmund, Burton Henry “Burt” Harris and Blair Craven.