NATASHA MARCUS

Sept. 25. UPDATED 9/28. By Dave Vieser. Incumbent NC Sen. Natasha Marcus (D-41) has no Republican opponent this fall, leaving only a minor party candidate to oppose her on the official ballot.

“I’ll let Republicans explain why they were unable to field a candidate in this race,” the Davidson resident told Cornelius Today.

Unaffiliated candidate Brian Sisson of Cornelius tried unsuccessfully on his own to enter the race via a petition drive in January, but he garnered less than a quarter of the signatures he would have needed to run. Wife Tricia Sisson was elected to the Cornelius Town Board in 2019.

Mecklenburg County Republican party Vice Chair Sarah Reidy-Jones said the GOP was ready to stand behind Sisson, even as an independent. “We felt he would have had a strong shot in unseating Ms. Marcus and attract votes from Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters. However when COVID-19 hit, any petition efforts were halted.”

This is the first time in recent memory that the GOP has failed to field an official candidate in the North Mecklenburg suburbs.

Marcus on her record

Marcus said she believes her record of fighting for issues such as lower health care costs, working to give schools more resources and holding Cintra accountable for its sloppy and slow construction of the I-77 project has resonated with district voters.

Redistricting

GOP officials in Mecklenburg County say the reluctance of a candidate to run was due to redistricting, but they also agree that the party should have found someone.

Senate District 41 now includes Davidson, Cornelius, Huntersville, Highland Creek, plus a portion of North and Northwestern Charlotte. The composition of the district voters has changed in recent years through redistricting plus an influx of new residents from the Northeast and Midwest.

COLE.

NEW: Christopher Cole

The minor party candidate on the ballot is Christopher Cole of Huntersville, running on the Constitution line.

Cole, who has run unsuccessfully for a number of local, state, and federal offices, supports term limits. He was the 2016 Libertarian candidate for District 41.

He said he is emphasizing three things in his campaign:

—Abolishing abortion

—Preserving Second Amendment rights

—Ending the drug war.

“I see the drug war as the main factor in creating confrontations between police and minorities. It is used to justify militarization of the police, no-knock warrants, and over-policing of minority neighborhoods,” he said.