Former Carolina Panthers safety Mike Minter is thinking about running in NC-08 against Larry Kissell--as a Republican.
Minter spoke minutes after returning from a two-day visit to Washington where surveyed the political scene. He said he would discuss the issue with his family and pastor before deciding.
"My thing right now is trying to find the best way I can help people achieve what they need to achieve," Minter said. "This is just another option that was thrown on the table for me to look at."
If Minter does run, it's very likely he'll bill himself as a social conservative--think J.C. Watts (what is it about former black Big Eight players running for Congress?). He's been very active the last year-plus in born-again circles, and is head of football operations at First Assembly Christian School in Concord, near Charlotte.
This district's politics are pretty volatile. Even though it leans slightly Dem on paper, Robin Hayes was able to hold it for 10 years because of his roots in the district. The western part of the district, nearer to Charlotte, is nasty red (if you'll recall, every single county in the Charlotte metro except for Mecklenburg went for McCain by double digits). The rest of the district ranges from dark, dark blue in Charlotte itself to medium-blue in Union County and the far eastern portion (where Kissell is from).
However, The Southern Dem tells us at BlueNC that Minter has been registered to vote since 2004--and has voted exactly ONCE. Not entirely surprising--I haven't known many Panthers to be that active politically.
My view--this could be a tough race, if only because of the "wow" factor. But I would think Kissell would come out of this on top, if only because he can bill himself as more of an "average Joe" than Minter. And despite holding this district for 10 years, it looks like the Repubs might be pinning their hopes on Minter--according to DC Political Report, the only Repub who is even thinking about this race is John Snyder, the Union County DA.