Back in December Asheville mayor Terry Bellamy announced her candidacy for the NC-10 seat currently held by Republican Patrick McHenry, whom most of you know from his now infamous confrontation with Elizabeth Warren (which you can see here). And many of you are also aware that as part of perhaps the most egregious redistricting in the country, the Republican controlled legislature grabbed Asheville out of the mountains of Western North Carolina, where it had long been the center of NC-11, and dragged it down into the lower Piedmont, joining it to counties along the I-85/US-74 corridor to the outskirts of Charlotte. Relative to the mountain communities of NC-11 within which it is the central hub, Asheville has little in common with the rest of NC-10; we are geographically cut off by the steep ascent up I-26, and the towns of the lower counties center around the cities of Shelby and Gastonia, and are close enough to be within the influence economically and culturally of Charlotte. Thus I was a bit surprised but delighted to see our mayor announce to run in this red district.
Today I received an email from Bellamy announcing her new campaign video, and I wanted to share it with those of you who might find it of interest. It's a nice introduction for those who hadn't seen her before; and there's some nice footage of our city. While it's a red district, I think it within the realm of possibility that we can take it. And Bellamy would certainly be a far better representative in congress than McHenry.
Video below the fold. Thanks for reading.