The leaders of Alamance County’s Republican Party will convene shortly before Thanksgiving to name a successor to county commissioner Craig Turner, who is preparing to assume one of the county’s district court judgeships.
Although the party won’t solidify its selection until it meets on Saturday, November 23, the odds-on favorite, at this juncture, seems to be Kelly Allen, 69, a Republican stalwart who currently serves as mayor on Haw River’s nonpartisan town council.
Whoever ultimately wins over the party’s leadership will be on the fast-track to fill a seat that Turner has held on the board of commissioners since he was himself tapped for a vacant position in the opening months of 2021. Although he was elected outright to a four year term in 2022, Turner now plans to give up his post in favor of a district court judgeship he snagged when area voters went to the polls on November 5.
According to Kathy Page, the chairman of Alamance County’s Republican Party, Turner has notified her that he’ll formally resign from his current position “at the close of business on Wednesday, November 20.” At that point, it will fall to the local party’s executive committee to find someone to serve out the remainder of Turner’s four year term on the board of commissioners, which isn’t set to expire until the final month of 2026.
Under state law, Alamance County is one of 42 jurisdictions where the political party of a former county commissioner has an effective mandate to name a replacement when the office holder leaves before his or her term has expired. In each of these counties, the remaining county commissioners are obligated to appoint the party’s “nominee” as long as the selection occurs within 30 days of the vacancy’s appearance.
In this case, the local Republican Party has opted not to run down the clock before it chooses someone to take Turner’s place on the board of commissioners. According to Page, the party’s executive committee will meet on Saturday, November 23 to attend to this formality from its local headquarters at 2643 Ramada Road in Burlington. This meeting, which will begin at 9:00 a.m., “will be limited to” executive committee members and candidates for the appointment, according to the fine print in a notice that Page sent out this past weekend.
In preparation for this special meeting, members of the local Republican Party have begun to jockey for the position ahead of the executive committee’s selection.
Among those who are eager to be in contention when the committee convenes is Henry Vines, 71, a member of the county’s board of equalization and review who has made several unsuccessful bids for the board of commissioners. Although Vines had waged these campaigns as a Democrat, he has since defected to the Republican Party, where he hopes he’ll get a better hearing for his political rallying cry against increased property taxes.
In filling previous vacancies on the board of commissioners, the GOP’s executive committee has often given special consideration to the runners-up from the party’s most recent primaries for the board of commissioners. In this case, however, the committee will apparently have to look past Ryan Bowden, a current school board member who had been the next highest vote getter when the party selected its slate for the board of commissioners in March.
This past weekend, Bowden formally took himself out of contention with a rather pointed rejoinder to those who saw him as a potential successor to Turner.
“I have NO desire or intentions to seek the forthcoming vacancy on the Alamance County board of commissioners,” Bowden declared in this statement on Facebook. “Having worked closely with several commissioners over my four years of service on the school board, I must confess that I have little patience for hypocrites or those prone to speaking out of both sides of their mouths.”
OUT: Two March primary candidates are not interested
Another possible contender for Turner’s seat was rumored to be Leonard Harrison, who had placed fifth behind Bowden among the six Republicans who took part in the primary. On Wednesday, Harrison told The Alamance News that he’s “not in the running” for the executive committee’s selection.
Meanwhile, the word among some Republican leaders is that a serious contender for the appointment could be Haw River’s mayor Kelly Allen. Although her municipal post is technically nonpartisan, Allen has long been active in the local Republican Party, and is currently a member of the executive committee, whose composition includes party officers as well as elected office holders and general election contenders for partisan seats.
When contacted about her possible interest in Turner’s position, Allen was reticent to say anything one way or the other ahead of the executive committee’s meeting.
“That’s neither a ‘yes’ nor a ‘no,’” she added when the newspaper inquired if she plans to pursue the committee’s nod.
Even so, The Alamance News has confirmed that Allen has been contacting other executive committee members to solicit their support for the appointment.
