Davidson’s Precinct 206 Democrats will hold an organizing meeting Wednesday at Town Hall. Also, candidates for the Mecklenburg County at-large seats and other local races will be in Davidson Thursday, Oct. 14, for a candidate forum organized by the St. Alban’s neighborhood association, Lake Norman Chamber, and DavidsonNews.net. And North Mecklenburg Republican Women are hosting a Pig Pickin’ and Politickin’ GOP Rally and BBQ on Oct. 12 at Northstone Club in Huntersville. Read the full story

ImpactLKN, a new political group that has begun meeting regularly in the area, will host a meeting Tuesday night, Aug. 31, with Corey Thompson, a Republican at-large candidate for Mecklenburg County Commission.

The meeting begins at 7 p.m., at Creole House, 20517 N. Main St., Cornelius. Read the full story

Living 200 miles from district was no obstacle for Greg Dority. Now he faces Rep. Mel Watt.

Greg Dority

By JIM MORRILL
The Charlotte Observer

How does a candidate who campaigned fewer than a dozen times, lost five of six counties, and lives nearly 200 miles from his district win a congressional runoff?

In Republican Greg Dority‘s case, with a little strategy and a lot of luck. Read the full story

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall won Tuesday’s runoff for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, taking just under 60 percent of the vote to just over 40 percent for Cal Cunningham. Meanwhile, the field is also now set for this November’s vote in the U.S. House of Representatives’ 12th District. Read the full story

Runoff elections are scheduled today (Tuesday) in Republican and Democratic races for the fall ballot. Democrats will choose a candidate for U.S. Senate. Republicans in U.S. House district 12 (including Davidson) will vote between two potential challengers for the seat now held by U.S. Rep. Mel Watt. Also below, news about a new campaign office opening Friday for the North Mecklenburg Republican Women.

Read the full story

To the Editor:
Tuesday’s runoff election presents an interesting opportunity for Davidson’s Democratic and Unaffiliated voters – a chance to make a splash in this year’s U.S. Senate race. Somewhere between 90,000-120,000 voters will choose between Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and former State Senator Cal Cunningham to determine the Democrat who will face sitting Senator Richard Burr in November’s General Election. The low turnout means that individual votes will matter more than usual, and the unpredictable nature of the runoff could lead to a razor-thin margin of victory for one of the
candidates. Read the full story

Following are remarks by Mecklenburg County Commission Chair Jennifer Roberts, on the county’s fiscal 2010-11 budget. It’s an election year and her campaign circulated the remarks to supporters Wednesday morning via email.

Jennifer Roberts

This budget is the most difficult one I have faced in my 3 terms as a County Commissioner. These are extraordinary times. Following several years of rapid growth, where we built schools, libraries, and parks to meet the needs of a growing population, we faced a global economic crisis and declining revenues across the board: permit fees, real estate fees, interest income, and especially sales tax have all seen a steep decline.
Read the full story

Former Sheriff Jim Pendergraph, former commissioner Dan Ramirez, and newcomer Corey Thompson advanced to the November election for Mecklenburg County Commission’s three at-large seats, as the top-three vote-getters in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

Just 7.3 percent of Mecklenburg County voters turned out for the primaries. That was half the statewide average of 14.4 percent. Read the full story