This post has been updated after originally posted to reflect the latest information.
Press Release from NC State Board of Elections —
Supreme Court Suspends All Candidate Filing, Moves 2022 Primary to May 17
The North Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday suspended candidate filing for all offices for the 2022 primary election.
This includes filing for rescheduled municipal contests, and any separate filing period in January for those contests.
The Supreme Court also pushed the date of the primary and rescheduled municipal elections back more than two months – to Tuesday, May 17, 2022. It had been scheduled for March 8.
Read order: N.C. Supreme Court Order No. 413P21 (PDF). — click link here
For any candidate whose filing has been accepted by the State Board of Elections or any county board of elections, that candidate “will be deemed to have filed for the same office” in the May primary, subject to any court rulings that would impact that candidate’s eligibility, according to the Supreme Court order.
Those candidates would be able to withdraw their candidacy during the new filing period. Any individual who withdraws their candidacy is free to file for any other office for which they are eligible during the reopened filing period.
Dates for a new filing period have not been set. Candidate filing had begun on Monday at the N.C. State Fairgrounds for state- and federal-level contests and at all 100 county boards of elections for local contests. As of Wednesday evening, more than 1,400 candidates had filed statewide.
Original WIZS TownTalk Post
It looks like the newly redrawn NC House District 32 will have at least two names on the ballot in next year’s election – the incumbent Terry Garrison and the Rev. Frank Sossamon.
Sossamon filed on Tuesday for the seat, and Garrison told John C. Rose Wednesday morning that he planned to file later today. He did, in fact, file today, according to Vance County Elections Director Melody Vaughan. Sossamon retired as pastor of South Henderson Pentecostal Holiness Church earlier this year and now works with his son John at Sossamon Funeral Home in Henderson. Rose said Sossamon had been contemplating making a run for the seat. In a Nov. 1 phone conversation, Sossamon said, “I know the energy I will put in” to the job if elected.
Filing began on Monday, Dec. 6 and continues until noon on Dec. 17. (See press release above.) One reason Garrison was waiting to file, he said, was to see what court actions, if any, would be taken involving the redrawn maps, which have been criticized by some as being partisan.
District 32 has been redrawn to include all of Vance County and most of Granville County; Warren County has been removed from District 32.
Rose discussed the district race on Wednesday’s Town Talk and said Garrison predicts the redistricting map case will be heard by the N.C. Supreme Court.
Longtime state legislator Jim Crawford held the seat for more than 20 years, and Rose said that redistricting was a factor in his not winning reelection back in 2012. He lost to fellow Democrat W.A. “Winkie” Wilkins when redrawn district maps put both legislators in the same district. Crawford lost in the May 2012 primary.
“Basically, this is a new district,” Garrison said in the phone conversation, adding that the redrawn maps “most definitely are intended to dilute the Black vote” and have racial and political motivations. The new district does not include southern Granville’s Wilton and Mt. Energy precincts.
Garrison said the ramifications of the new redistricting maps not only affect politics at the state level, but have the potential to be felt all the way to Washington, D.C., predicting that supporters of the redrawn maps want to assure a strong Republican representation in Congress.
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