Three candidates launch campaigns for state, federal offices

The Political Agitator’s response: I will be supporting Kandie Smith and Don Davis. Let’s go!

Three candidates in the past two days announced their intentions to launch election campaigns.

State Rep. Kandie Smith, D-Pitt, will seek election in state Senate District 5, which includes Edgecombe and Pitt counties; Republican Yvonne McLeod will run for the state House District 25 seat in Nash County; and Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Robinson will seek the Republican nomination in the newly redrawn 2nd Congressional District.

Smith announced her candidacy Friday during a campaign stop at the Rocky Mount Event Center.

“For more than a decade I’ve fought on behalf of the people of Pitt County and eastern North Carolina,” she said. “Serving as your next senator, I am confident that we can continue the critical work of defending and fighting for the priorities of all eastern North Carolinians.”

Smith, 52, is serving her second term in the state House. Before being elected to the House in 2018, she was the first Black woman to serve as mayor of Greenville and spent almost 10 years on the Greenville City Council.

Smith said that while her area of responsibility will change, should she be elected, she will fight to make sure that officials in Raleigh understand that the state doesn’t stop at I-95.

Also seeking the GOP nomination in the 2nd Congressional District is Sandy Smith, who lost to U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield in what was then the 1st Congressional District. Butterfield recently announced he would not seek re-election.

In addition to Gailliard, state Rep. Don Davis and former state Sen. Erica Smith also have announced plans to seek the Democratic nomination for the 2nd Congressional District seat. (Read more)