RALEIGH – North Carolina State House Representative Valerie Foushee represents District 50 for a few more days until she’s sworn in as the state’s senator for District 23.
Friday, Governor Pat McCrory signed the recommendation made by the senate committee made up of two representative from Orange County and one from Chatham County. With the signed order, Rep. Foushee will take Former Senator Ellie Kinnaird’s seat in the Senate.
With the state legislature not returning to the short session until May, the greatest thing this process sets in motion is the filling of Rep. Foushee’s seat in the House. Three people from Orange County–businessman Tommy McNeill, Chapel Hill Town Council member Laurin Easthom, and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools administrator Graig Meyer have already announced their intention to seek the seat. Others have been rumored to want the position but have not formally announced. On Wednesday, Orange County Democratic Party Chair, Matt Hughes, announced he will not seek the House 50 seat despite contemplating the option.
With Meyer’s intention to take Rep. Foushee’s place, this process will have to be much like the one that filled the senate seat as Meyer was one of the two members of the selection committee from Orange; there are also two members from Durham. Before the next Representative is chosen, the committee has to be filled, especially since Orange County has the majority of the votes again.
The next step in the process is for Rep. Foushee to resign from the House; then she can be sworn in to the Senate. Her campaign manager, Evan Degnan, told the Durham Herald Sun that all the should happen next week.
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