Democrats choose Price to run against Meadows, McHenry cruises

ASHEVILLE – Western North Carolina Democrats chose Phillip Price Tuesday to take on incumbent Republican Mark Meadows in the 11th Congressional District while 10th District U.S. Rep. Patrick McHenry easily won the GOP nomination over five challengers.

Price got 40.6 percent of the vote in the 11th, putting him well ahead of Steve Woodsmall's 31.1 percent and Dr. Scott Donaldson, who had 28.3 percent in complete but unofficial returns.

Price is an owner of a salvaged lumber company who lives in the eastern McDowell County community of Dysartsville. He was the first of the three candidates to announce and emphasized his roots in the district and affinity for working class people in his campaign.

In an interview, he attributed his win to "a lot of work," including "25,000 miles of driving in my truck" around the 11th District.

Price entered the race in March 2017, well before his two competitors. He said he attended events across the district and put together a team of volunteers -- the campaign has no paid employees -- that pushed him to the win.

The three Democrats took similar positions on the issues, generally on the progressive end of the ideological spectrum. Voters were left to choose based on their assessment of their backgrounds, likely ability to beat Meadows or other factors.

Donaldson, from Hendersonville, and Transylvania County resident Woodsmall won their home counties. Price won in all the rest.

More: Three WNC Democrats debate who should take on Mark Meadows

Given the conservative tendencies of the 11th, Price will face an uphill battle against Meadows in the general election.

He said his strategy will be "just being genuine, being real, showing that I actually am concerned about the issues that (voters) are concerned about, that they talk about around the dinner table every night."

Meadows, he said, is instead spending his time attacking a Justice Department official supervising the special counsel investigating the Trump administration.

"He hasn't spoken out negatively in any way whatsoever toward any of the administration's scandalous behavior and I'm more concerned about bringing better jobs with better paychecks to Western North Carolina," Price said.

Meadows and the Freedom Caucus he leads have drawn up articles of impeachment against Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

A Meadows campaign spokesman declined comment.

Grayson Barnette, a spokesman for Woodsmall, said he had only put his campaign together early this year and that may have been a factor in the results.

In another race of local interest, Asheville City Councilman Keith Young came in a very distant second to incumbent Rep. Alma Adams in the Democratic primary for the 12th Congressional District, which takes in most of Mecklenburg County.

Adams had 85.5 percent of the vote to Young's 5.6 percent. Two other candidates split the rest of the vote.

Candidates for U.S. House only have to live in the state that contains the district they hope to represent, not necessarily in the district itself.

The 11th runs from the Lenoir area to the Tennessee state line west of Murphy. It has voted conservatively since state legislators shifted most of Asheville into the 10th District in 2011.

Meadows, from Transylvania County, got 86.4 percent of the vote in the Republican primary to Chuck Archerd's 13.6 percent.

Buncombe County resident Archerd said he filed to run only in case Meadows took a job in the administration of President Donald Trump and would urge Republicans to vote for Meadows if that didn't happen.

In the 10th, McHenry won with 70.7 percent, followed by Kings Mountain real estate agent Gina Collias with 13.9 percent.

McHenry is chief deputy House whip and is seeking his eighth term. David Wilson Brown, an information technology consultant from Gaston County, was unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 10th and will face McHenry in November.

"I'm honored that Tenth District conservatives have again trusted me to serve as their candidate for Congress," McHenry said in a statement.

McHenry was seldom seen on the campaign trail, but none of his challengers had much initial name recognition and none was able to raise much money for the race.

McHenry said Trump and congressional Republicans have "accomplished a great deal" since Trump took office, "But our work is far from done. President Trump needs conservative allies in Washington so we can continue to advance his agenda focused on putting more money in our pockets and keeping us safe."

More: Challengers take shots at Patrick McHenry in 10th District GOP race

Collias had sought to attract more moderate Republicans and unaffiliated voters, who could vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary, arguing the GOP has moved to extreme ring-wing positions.

In many other Republican primaries around the country this year, candidates have competed to show who is closest to the president and most likely to advance his agenda.

Collias said Wednesday she did not see her distant second-place showing as a repudiation of her message and said she is "uplifted with all the encouragement."

She called her vote total "great," given McHenry's financial and other advantages.

Behind Collias with 7.7 percent was Jeff Gregory, a former postmaster from Shelby; Hickory distribution center manager Ira Roberts, 3.5 percent; Swannanoa flooring salesman Seth Blankenship, 3 percent and perennial candidate Dr. Albert Wiley Jr. from Atlantic Beach on the North Carolina coast with 1.3 percent.