On November 6, independent candidate Bert Jones was elected to the North Carolina State House of Representatives. He defeated an incumbent in a two-person race by a margin of 56.1% – 43.9%. Jones is a dentist who was formerly a Republican, but who left the party because he did not believe the Republican Party is sincerely interested in reducing the size of government. He was elected in the 65th district.
Jones is only the second person to be elected as an independent to the North Carolina state legislature, since the beginning of government-printed ballots in 1901. In 1990, Carolyn Russell had also been elected as an independent, but she had run as an independent for technical reasons, and affiliated with the Republicans when the legislature had convened in 1991.
Sounds like the LP or the CP ought to be speaking with this person.
An Independent (or independent) can win if they are well-known and have the money to finance in their campaigns. In Alabama, we had a State Senator who ran for re-election after being denied the opportunity to run in the GOP primary (because she endorsed a Democrat – the Republicans are so touchy and can’t stand someone thinking for themself) and on top of this was indicted on charges related to bingo gambling legislation. Still, the people of her district, along with her money, put her back in office comfortably.
Casual Bystander: The GOP has given Jones an invitation to caucus with them. He said this to the Greensboro News-Record after the election: “I have been invited to caucus with the Republicans. I do not yet know all the details, but I am happy to accept their invitation.”
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This is good news!! Great to hear. Hopefully we can work with him here in NC to lower NC’s ballot access restrictions.
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