Two Republican candidates for North Carolina’s 8th U.S. Congressional have thrown their hats into the ring for the November 2010 election.

Factory owner and Richmond County resident Darrell Day and Cumberland County retired Army Col. Lou Huddleston have expressed interest.

Day, whose website www.stopthechangenow.com makes the case for his candidacy, is the president of the East Coast Umbrella Factory in Laurel Hill. He is also an active member of the Outreach For Jesus Church outside Hamlet, and an evangelical candidate who advocates limited federal government.

“The answer to America’s problems, and anybody’s problems, is not the government — the answer is God,” he said.

This is Day’s first run at public office, and he understands that he is not as well known as some of the potential candidates that have been discussed in the media.

“(To win the Republican nomination in the May primary) is going to take a lot of hard work, I’ll have to get my name out there,” he said. “But I believe whoever wins the Republican nomination is going to win the election, because across the country, and especially in rural America like our 8th District, people are getting fed up with what’s going on in Washington. I believe our Kissell is a sitting duck.”

Day said he has put together a four person staff and has been approved to receive campaign contributions.

Huddleston, who now works as a national security consultant, released a statement when he declared for the race saying things have gotten worse since Kissell took office, and taking a jab at his political integrity.

“The citizens of the 8th congressional district deserve a principled leader who represents them, not a yes man for the out-of-touch politicians in Washington," Huddleston said.

Over the course of the last couple of weeks, former 8th District U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes, former Charlotte Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Pat McRory and former Carolina Panthers Safety and Team Captain Mike Minter have said they won’t seek the seat.

In a visit to Fayetteville earlier this week, the recruitment chairman for the National Republican Congressional Committee spoke with Huddleston. He told the Fayetteville Observer President Obama’s sinking poll numbers and the intense debate over health care reform could mean Republicans will be in a better position to pick up seats in the House and Senate in 2010, and predicted the 8th district would be one of the most competitive races in the country.

“I believe if you look at the frustrations going on in this country and the direction it is going, we are looking for fresh faces that can find solutions,” said Kevin McCarthy, who holds a Congressional seat from California, said.

Kissell unseated five-term incumbent Republican Robin Hayes in last November’s elections to become the district’s U.S. Representative by a 10-point margin. It was the second consecutive election the two had locked horns over the seat.

For his part, Kissell enjoyed early legislative success after taking office in January when the Kissell Amendment was included in the stimulus package.

An extension of an earlier law, the amendment stipulated uniforms for certain homeland security agencies be made in America from American materials. It was earlier pushed by Hayes.

That victory has been tempered by bureaucratic foot-dragging over implementing the law by Homeland Security officials, however.

Kissell has shown a propensity to reach across the aisle, co-sponsoring a bill with Texas Republican Ron Paul and voting against his party’s line on the cap and trade of carbon emissions mandated in the Waxman-Markey Bill.

The bill passed the House by a narrow margin despite Kissell’s opposition.

He was also credited by officials at Richmond Community College for bringing the White House’s Rural Tour to Cole Auditorium, where two Obama Administration cabinet members and Sen. Richard Burr met for last week’s town hall-style meeting on education and workforce development.

He is hosting a town hall meeting in Wadesboro tonight from 6 to 7 p.m. at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Salisbury Street.

“This town hall will be another opportunity for folks to ask questions and discuss the issues which are important to them,” Kissell said in a release.