2012 could be a good year for the GOP in North Carolina, and five out of eight Wake County Republicans, who have filed to run for higher office, are looking to take advantage of it.<\/p>\n
Republican Primary
\nJohn Tedesco
\nRay Martin
\nMark Crawford
\nRichard Alexander
\nDavid Scholl<\/p>\n
Democratic Primary
\nJune Atkinson (i) <\/p>\n
State Auditor<\/strong><\/p>\n Republican Primary Democratic Primary NC House of Representatives District 35 (Open) <\/strong><\/p>\n Republican Primary Democratic Primary Lt. Governor (Open)<\/strong><\/p>\n Republican Primary Democratic Primary U.S. House of Representatives District 13<\/strong><\/p>\n Republican Primary Democratic Primary On the Wake County school board, Debra Goldman is running for State Auditor, John Tedesco for State Superintendent and Chris Malone for NC House in district 35. On the Wake County Board of Commissioners, Paul Coble is running for U.S. House of Representatives in district 13 and Tony Gurley for Lt. Governor.<\/p>\n The lone Democrat seeking higher office at the county level is County Commissioner Erv Portman, who is running for State Senate seat 17.<\/p>\n \u201cIt comes down to opportunity,\u201d said William Peace University Political Science professor David McLennan. \u201cDemocrats see this year as a very difficult challenge and the Republicans see some really nice opportunity in front of them.\u201d<\/p>\n The two biggest reasons: redistricting and a strong top of the ticket at the state level, says McLennan.<\/p>\n \u201cWe look at the top of the ticket and we see that at least in the state\u2026 Pat McCrory looks to have a fairly easy race for the governorship,\u201d McLennan said. \u201cIf he is strong at the top of the ticket then folks running for other council of state offices on the Republican side could benefit from that.\u201d<\/p>\n But those aren\u2019t the only things swinging in the Republicans\u2019 favor. Of the five GOP candidates, none will be forced to give up their county seat even if they lose in races for higher office.<\/p>\n To boot, Mclennan said, school board members are running because \u201cthey moved from being in the majority on the school board to being in the minority.\u201d<\/p>\n Tedesco says staying in the majority was something he and his fellow Republicans took too much for granted.<\/p>\n \u201cWe may have been a little too presumptuous early on to think that there was not a likely chance that we would lose those seats [in the conservative leaning districts of Ron Margiotta and Kevin Hill],\u201d Tedesco said.<\/p>\n He said the make-up of the school board influenced his decision. If Republicans had kept the majority, but not strengthened it, he says he may not have run, because the board would\u2019ve been split four-four to vote in a new \u201cnon-partisan\u201d member.<\/p>\n Ultimately, Tedesco cites a passion for education issues as the driving factor in his decision.<\/p>\n \u201cI was asked by some folks to consider the North Carolina Senate district that was drawn in my neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cThat district is a conservative district and based on the current trend numbers it would be likely to go to a Republican, but it\u2019s just not where my heart is.\u201d<\/p>\n Redistricting Advantage v. Pitfalls of Tea Party Politics<\/strong> \u201cThe districts [at the state level] were drawn in such a way that we\u2019re going to have even stronger [Republican] majorities in both houses,\u201d Mclennan said. \u201cEven if a Democrat were to win the governorship, there may be veto-proof houses in the General Assembly.\u201d<\/p>\n And as far as U.S. Congressional districts go, he said, \u201cif Democrats walk out of 2012 elections with three members of Congress, I think, they will count themselves fortunate. That shows how powerful the redistricting was.\u201d<\/p>\n But there is one thing for which Republicans need to be wary.<\/p>\n After last year\u2019s school board elections, Public Policy Polling framed the five-seat Democratic sweep<\/a> as a testament to the strategy of linking Republicans to the Tea Party. In each of those elections, unaffiliated voters swung Democratic.<\/p>\n
\nDebra Goldman
\nGreg Dority
\nJoseph Hank DeBragga
\nFern Shubert
\nRudy Wright<\/p>\n
\nBeth Wood (i)<\/p>\n
\nChris Malone
\nDuane Cutlip<\/p>\n
\nLori. B. Millberg<\/p>\n
\nTony Gurley
\nDan Forest
\nDale Folwell
\nArthur Jason Rich
\nGrey Mills<\/p>\n
\nLinda Coleman
\nEric Mansfield<\/p>\n
\nPaul Coble
\nBill Randall
\nGeorge Holding<\/p>\n
\nBernard A. Holliday
\nCharles Malone<\/center><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nThe redistricting advantage at both the state and national level is heavy.<\/p>\n