Politics

GOP picks nominee to fill County Commission seat

By Andrew Dundas, Published: July 30, 2020

The Republican Party’s executive committee named their choice for the District 2 seat of the Henderson County Board of Commissioners Thursday evening, filling the position left vacant by the passing of Charlie Messer.

Members of the committee selected Daniel Andreotta in the first round with 22 votes out of 40. He sought the position alongside candidates Jennifer Capps Balkcom and Sheila Franklin. Andreotta will complete Messer’s unexpired term and appear on the ballot in November as the Republican nominee.

Andreotta said, "My first priority is to give full effort to the job for the next three months." Second to that, he said, he will work on campagining for the upcoming elections. "We will try to get the word out as best we can," he said, recognizing that time is short and events are restricted due to COVID-19. Andreotta said, "We will take every opportunity we can to connect with the poeple of Henderson County."

A Henderson County native and chair of the Northeast Hendersonville precinct, Andreotta has served on the executive committee since 2015. Andreotta is cofounder and managing partner of Integrity Financial Group. He supports law enforcement and first responders. He is familiar with how the county works and knows finance and economics, according to a resume he sent party leaders. He said he wants to be a “good steward of the taxpayer” and emphasized that tax money is the people’s money.

For full backgrounds on Andreotta and the other candidates click here.

"Everyone here, in the room, really appreciated all the candidates," Republican Party Chair Merry Guy said,  adding that Andreotta worked  hard to connect with a lot of voters.

Andreotta said the executive committee has done amazing these past three weeks. He said that they were "thrust into being an HR department," while everyone was mourning their friend Charlie Messer.

Candidates were nominated by members of the executive committee and given time to speak. District Attorney Greg Newman nominated Andreotta. The nominee then had to win 50 percent of the vote plus one, going into an extra round if none reached that target. Andreotta passed the mark in the first round of voting. His name now goes to the Board of Commissioners, which under state law must appoint the person party leaders choose.