Republicans will now have a primary election in May for the state house of representatives, for district #63, which is comprised of eastern and northern Alamance County. The district reaches from central and northern Burlington to Haw River, Green Level, most of Mebane, and areas to the north (Pleasant Grove, etc.)
Republican Ed Priola, 747 South Eighth Street, Mebane, filed Thursday when candidate filing was reopened for candidates statewide.
He will face former state representative Stephen Ross of Burlington, who had filed in December before courts shut down the filing over a challenge to the state’s congressional districts.
While those congressional districts, subsequently redrawn by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, are still being contested, the N.C. Supreme Court has okayed the state senate and state house districts.
Ross, who had represented the 63rd district for six years (3 terms) since he was first elected in 2014 was defeated in 2020 by Democrat Ricky Hurtado. Hurtado prevailed by 477 votes, 20,584 (50.59%) to 20,107 (49.41%) for Ross.
Hurtado filed for reelection on Friday.
The only other Democrat who has filed for the 2022 elections is incumbent district court judge Bradley Reid Allen, Sr., who filed Thursday for another four-year term on the district court bench.
GOP will also have a primary for two county commissioner seats
A Republican primary is also assured for the county commissioner race. Rudy Cartassi became the fourth GOP candidate to file for one of the two available seats.
Also running since they filed during the earlier filing period in December are incumbents Steve Carter, who was first elected in 2018, and Craig Turner, who was appointed in 2021 to fill the remainder of Galey’s term as a county commissioner; and Robert Turner.
