N.C. Rep. Sandra Spaulding Hughes won’t seek re-election (Wilmington Star News)
Another week, another local Democrat announces plans not to seek re-election this year.
State Rep. Sandra Spaulding Hughes announced Monday she won’t seek another two-year term in Raleigh representing a district that currently includes portions of northern New Hanover and western Pender counties.
Because of a Supreme Court ruling last March, the district will become an all-New Hanover seat for the 2010 election.
Hughes joins state Sens. R.C. Soles and Julia Boseman, both also Democrats, who have announced their intentions not to see re-election.
The move by the three incumbents could mean a political power outage for local Democrats just as the party – statewide and nationally – prepares for a tough election season, since historically the party in power loses seats during a mid-term election.
Democrats control the governor’s mansion and the General Assembly in Raleigh and the White House and Congress in Washington.
In a short statement released early Monday morning, Hughes said she was stepping down for “personal and family reasons.” The former Wilmington city councilwoman added that she intended to serve out the remainder of her term.
Hughes took office in April 2008, replacing former representative Thomas Wright after he became the first sitting legislator to be kicked out of the General Assembly in more than a century.
She then won re-election that November, easily defeating Republican challenger George Swart.
Monday Jim Morgan, head of the New Hanover County Democratic Party, said party officials had spent the past few weeks trying to persuade Hughes to run for re-election.
But now that she had decided to step down, Morgan said he intended to put together a recruitment committee to seek new candidates for the seat.
Although the current and former holders of the seat have been African-American, Morgan said, he didn’t think there would be any pressure on the party to put forward a black candidate in November.
“But certainly the Democratic Party would love to see an African-American representing the 18th District because it is important to have diversity in Raleigh,” he said.
Several other Democratic officials on Monday said they weren’t aware of anyone who had expressed interest in the seat, although they noted that Hughes’ decision not to run again was still very fresh.
Democratic Party leaders are already busy trying to find someone to run for Boseman’s seat.
Although several folks have expressed interest, including Jim Leutze, former chancellor of the University of North Carolina Wilmington, no Democrat has formally announced as a candidate.
Filing runs Feb. 8-26.
Gareth McGrath: 343-2384
By Gareth McGrath
[email protected]
Published: Monday, January 11, 2010 at 9:23 a.m.
