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Candidates Aplenty For US Senate And Sixth Congressional District

Of the 1,400 registered voters in Marshville, only about 360 submitted their ballots.
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Of the 1,400 registered voters in Marshville, only about 360 submitted their ballots.

Those seeking political office had until noon today to file for this year’s election. Two races in particular are fielding a large number of candidates.  

The first race is for US Senate. Here’s a fun fact: so many people are vying for that seat the state took in $19,110 in filing fees. 

There will be 13 names on primary ballots and three parties will have a primary. 

The Republican Primary will feature eight of those names. They include Speaker Thom Tillis and Tea Party-backed Greg Brannon, along with Mark Harris, a founding member of Vote for Marriage N.C., which pushed the state constitutional amendment that banned gay marriage. Also in the race is Jim Snyder, a former member of the General Assembly who ran for Senate in 2002 but lost out to Elizabeth Dole.

For the Democrats, Senator Hagan will face off against Ernest Reeves of Greenville and Will Stewart, a former carpenter and IT specialist. But it’s not clear how well-funded or organized Hagan’s opponents will be.

As for Libertarians seeking the U.S. Senate seat: Sean Haugh the former executive director of the state party will face off against Tim D’Annunzio, a former Republican who ran for congress in 2010. You might remember his “Machine Gun” themed fundraisers. 

If that wasn’t enough names for you, a second race features an equally crowded field of contenders. 

Nine Republicans and two Democrats filed paperwork to run for North Carolina’s sixth congressional district. That seat was left open when Representative Howard Coble, a Rrepublican, announced last year he would not seek re-election.  He is currently North Carolina’s longest serving Representative. 

Tom Bullock decided to trade the khaki clad masses and traffic of Washington DC for Charlotte in 2014. Before joining WFAE, Tom spent 15 years working for NPR. Over that time he served as everything from an intern to senior producer of NPR’s Election Unit. Tom also spent five years as the senior producer of NPR’s Foreign Desk where he produced and reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Haiti, Egypt, Libya, Lebanon among others. Tom is looking forward to finally convincing his young daughter, Charlotte, that her new hometown was not, in fact, named after her.