Boyle column: Liberals fanning out in Buncombe? 'Ripsters' taking over?

John Boyle | The Citizen-Times

Show Caption Hide Caption NC elections results: Buncombe County primaries 2018 Results from the Buncombe County local primary races.

I've noticed it in my neighborhood — the infestation of hipsters, as my wife and I jokingly refer to it.

Now, we live in Fletcher, not exactly a haven for the hip, unless you consider a shopping center anchored by GO Grocery particularly trendy.

But in the last year or two, we've noticed younger couples, often sporting tattoos and beards (the men, to be clear) and pushing baby strollers, in the neighborhood we lovingly call "Vinyl Flats," in reference to its blandness and topography. Hey, we like hipsters, as they add something of interest to our otherwise bland suburban existence.

Obviously, we're in Henderson County, so this wouldn't affect Buncombe elections, but I do think it's indicative of a larger trend in Buncombe and maybe some of northern Henderson County: an influx of more liberal people into traditionally conservative areas.

Aaron Sarver — number-cruncher and campaign strategist for Democratic sheriff's primary victor Quentin Miller, who won by a 2-1 margin in Buncombe on Tuesday — said he's noticed something similar in Buncombe.

For years, Asheville has been a blueberry in the tomato soup, as the saying goes, a liberal oasis surrounded by a purplish-red moderate conservative ring and then a downright bright red

"I wonder if what we’re beginning to see — and maybe this is larger than the sheriff’s race — that what we’re beginning to see with this city-county divide is that as the county is growing and as people are being priced out of Asheville and they're moving into the county, maybe the difference isn't as great as it used to be," Sarver said.

In short, liberals from Asheville find they can afford houses in the county, and they take their leftward political leanings with them.

That's exactly what Mike Figura, owner of Mosaic Community Lifestyle Realty, says he's been seeing. And something else ...

"There’s a lot of in-migration into the county directly from people who are living here, but also from people from California, New York and New Jersey, which are traditionally blue areas," Figura said.

Political science professor Chris Cooper has coined a pretty nifty phrase for hipsters opting for rural areas in the mountains: "Ripsters." As in "rural hipsters."

"I think we are seeing more Ripsters changing the politics of some of these smaller Western North Carolina towns," said Cooper, who teaches at Western Carolina University. "Keep in mind, it's not very difficult to change the politics of a town of 2,000 people. I do think the Asheville effect is bleeding out, and we are seeing Ripsters who can’t afford to live in Asheville moving into more rural areas."

This will certainly make Buncombe bluer, and it could change other nearby counties and towns, too, Cooper said. That, undoubtedly, can create some interesting culture wars, as traditionally quiet, conservative towns see an influx of people with different ideas and politics.

Cooper says he's even seen the effect in Sylva in Jackson County. WCU is based in Cullowhee, also in Jackson.

"I've jokingly been referring to Sylva as 'West West Asheville,'" Cooper said. "We're about to have three breweries in Sylva within a baseball throw of each other."

While Figura doesn't track statistics on buyers' politics, he does often chat them up about their leanings. Hey, you want to be sure a hard-core conservative isn't going to be miserable living in a liberal enclave, or vice versa.

His company has 30 brokers and covers all of Buncombe, as well as parts of Madison and Henderson, so Figura has a pretty good perspective on this.

"A lot more people have come here who are professed liberals, and they're moving to areas in the county, especially east and north," Figura said. "A little to the west, too, with Candler and Leicester, but definitely more to the east. There's a Whole Foods on Tunnel Road now, you know."

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The county is seeing development trends that appeal to liberals — think lots of open space, community areas, green homes, even bee hives, maybe.

"Also, we're seeing people who are buying small homes as close to the city as they can but they're in the county," Figura said. "They're going to Candler or Leicester."

Somewhere in Leicester, Chad Nesbitt's head just exploded.

Of course, much of this is conjecture and anecdote, but I can relate an anecdote that's on point in another way: conservatives getting the heck out of Buncombe.

A conservative friend of mine at the YMCA recently asked me if I knew any real estate agents in Henderson County, as he and his wife are looking to move out of Fairview, partly because they want first-floor living and reduced taxes in retirement, but also because they like Henderson's conservative reputation.

On the statistics front, I can offer you a snapshot of Buncombe voters' political registration. Here's how it breaks down, according to Board of Elections stats:

Democratic: 74,726

Republican: 45,965

Unaffiliated: 71,439

Libertarian: 1,398

Green: 3

In the Miller race, the precinct voting map on the Board of Elections site showed Miller taking the city precincts, as expected, but also doing really well to the east and south, in some places to the county border. The most rural precincts were bright red, but they also have a lot fewer voters.

So yes, all of this means Buncombe likely will get even more blue, and some of that could bleed over into Henderson County. And it's all driven by where people can afford to live.

"I think as the trend continues, it's only going in one direction," Figura said, speaking of Buncombe becoming more liberal.