The general voting public will be voting on a new 9th Congressional District representative. If N.C. Rep. Ken Goodman is confirmed to take a seat on the North Carolina Industrial Commission, Democrats will be involved in choosing a new representative for the district.
Some people might call that unfair, that a group of people affiliated with one party should be able to choose who replaces an elected official. However, that’s the law at this time. It’s a law that should be revisited. The voters should have a say.
North Carolina General Statute 163A-719(d), Filling vacancies in the General Assembly, has various scenarios that can occur, but in the end, the governor chooses the person who will replace the person in the General Assembly.
There is no election. The governor takes the recommendations from people who are affiliated with the party of the person no longer in the position.
Because Goodman is a Democrat, the Democratic parties for each county in District 66, which includes all of Richmond and Montgomery counties and part of Stanly County, will then recommend candidates to the governor to fill out the rest of Goodman’s term. The governor will then appoint an individual from these recommendations.
Goodman took office in 2010. He was elected by the people of District 66, but if he is replaced, the replacement will be “elected” by the governor from a slate of people given to him by Democratic Party leaders. How will those leaders form their recommendations to give to the governor? Will they hold some sort of elections to ask voters who they will recommend?
This whole process involves politicking, but unlike for the 9th Congressional District race, the voters will not be the ones who decide the outcome.
No matter what happens in the short term with Goodman’s seat, candidates are already eyeing the seat, preparing to run for it in 2020, when the people again will elect a person to represent them. The candidates we know about so far are Republicans.
The Daily Journal reported that Richmond County Commissioner Ben Moss made his first public appearance as a candidate for Goodman’s seat representing N.C. House District 66 at the annual Richmond County GOP Convention this month.
So far, in 2020 Moss will be running against former Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Joey Davis and 23-year-old Republican Joshua Flores. Davis ran for Goodman’s seat, but lost to Goodman by 1,996 votes in 2018.
The assumption is that the person Gov. Roy Cooper appoints to serve the rest of Goodman’s term will be in the running as a Democrat.
That is, if the N.C. Senate approves Goodman’s appointment to the North Carolina Industrial Commission. The N.C. House of Representatives voted unanimously to approve his nomination.
But if the Senate rejects the appointment, Goodman will remain in his seat, and if he decides to run in 2020, will have several people to face in a re-election bid.
There will be no appointments: The voters will decide in that race.