Posted on 05/14/2009 8:41:35 AM PDT by aft_lizard
CHARLOTTE — Former Carolina Panthers safety Mike Minter said Wednesday that he will make a decision in the next few weeks whether to challenge for the 8th District seat.
The seat is currently held by Democrat Larry Kissell, who defeated 10-year Republican incumbent Rep. Robin Hayes in November’s election.
Minter spoke minutes after returning from a two-day visit to Washington where he surveyed the political scene. He said he would discuss the issue with his family and pastor before deciding.
“My thing right now is trying to find the best way I can help people achieve what they need to achieve,” Minter said. “This is just another option that was thrown on the table for me to look at.”
Minter is one of the most popular players in Panthers history. A second-round pick out of Nebraska in 1997, Minter became a mainstay in the Panthers’ secondary and remains the team’s leading tackler. He retired in training camp in 2007 because of chronic knee pain but has remained active in the community.
Minter is involved in several business, charitable and religious activities and has even attempted acting. He’ll play the lead role in a movie, “Sins of Ashe County.” Filming began recently in the Carolinas.
Minter also is coaching a local high school football team and is involved in UNC-Charlotte’s efforts to start a football program. Minter said he also has inquired about coaching that team, too.
“I’m not afraid to look at something or try something to see if that’s an area I want to focus on,” Minter said.
Minter would compete for a seat in 2010 that had been solidly Republican until Kissell edged Hayes in November, one of several seats the GOP lost nationally in the election.
Saw this at a Husker football site. He was a great football player on the field and a great person off the field. Apparently he will be running as a Republican. I don't know the particulars of his politics, whether or not he is a RINO, but it is good to see him doing even more off the field.
Hayes was not a bad Congresscritter, strictly on his voting record, but he was a weak candidate without much oomph. Maybe he was just tired.
Anyway, the seat should be a fairly easy pickup for a forceful Republican candidate with some firm principles.
You say he will be running as a Republican.
I didn’t see that in the story.
Could he be a Democrat and talking about the primary?
Is this guy a R(a real one not a RINO) or a D?
US Navy Vet, before we throw around the term RINO, let’s remember NFL Players pay taxes too, higher than most of us. He’s too green at this to throw that term at him, and he seems to have a positive background. I always think of a RINO as a Republican that started with the best of intentions and got infected and violated by liberals along the way.
You didn’t read my question? Go back and read it and try again.
“Congresscritter” is a common term in these parts, and I’d never given much thought to its being offensive. Sorry about that.
I never considered Rep. Hayes or Rep. Myrick “dangerous,” either, although Rep. Myrick does remind me off my mother in a bad mood. We have to have *some* United States Representative; perpetual vacancy isn’t allowed by the state constitution.
According to other news stories he would be running as a Republican. He has consulted with the the Republican politic arm in Washington and also former Congressman Hayes.
Republicans feel they have a good shot at winning back Kissell's district. The Charlotte-area seat gave President Obama 52 percent of the vote, aided by record-high African-American turnout. But Minter, who is black, would in credible position to win some of the African-American vote in the district..
According to the Hill he is a Republican.
Heath Shuler Part Two?
@ 10:31 am by Jeremy P. Jacobs
Former Carolina Panther safety Mike Minter is looking to follow in Rep. Heath Shuler’s (D-N.C.) NFL footprints and run for Congress.
Minter, unlike Shuler, would run as a Republican and is thinking of challenging Congressman Larry Kissell (D-N.C.), the Charlotte Observer reports.
Minter reportedly visited D.C. earlier this week and discussed the possibility on Wednesday.
As the Observer notes:
Minter is one of the most popular players in Panthers history. A second-round pick out of Nebraska in 1997, Minter became a mainstay in the Panthers’ secondary. He retired in 2007 because of knee trouble.
END
Kissell is definitely a target for Republicans next year. The district was carried by President Obama last year but is rated as a Republican +2 district by the Cook Political Report. It is one of the districts where Republicans believe Obama significantly boosted African American turnout, which increased the strength of his coattails.
Kissel beat Hayes by 10 percentage points. That's a bit more than a coat-tail win. Maybe the district did flip?
If he ran as a conservative democrat it wouldn’t be that hard to cause a district flip in the last election political Climate IMO.
*Black Republican Congressional candidate ping*
Minter was a pretty good free safety for Carolina. I don’t know anything about his politics though.
For a moment, I thought he was a former Black Panther.
“For a moment, I thought he was a former Black Panther.”
This is certainly a pick-up opportunity for us, since Kissell won by 10% largely because (i) Hayes had pissed off a lot of voters and (ii) Obama being on the ballot resulted in a huge black turnout, as well as a large urban white turnout in Charlotte. Just because Obama carried the CD much more narrowly than Kissell did doesn’t mean that “Obama’s coattails” weren’t a significant factor in the election. Obama, like most black Democrat candidates, was a “loss leader” for Democrats in the South, allowing moderate white Democrats to win despite usually falling short himself. Obama’s candidacy created a huge black turnout that gave moderate white Democrat candidates for other offices as many votes as it gave him, while the fact that conservative white Democrat voters in the South shunned Obama (and thus held Obama to 47% in GA and 52% in the NC-08 despite the huge black turnout) resulted in the white moderate doing much better than Obama. Thus, Obama’s “coattails” did help Kissell win by 10%, and in a non-presidential election with much lower black turnout it should be a very different story.
There is another candidate already running, or likely running. He is Union County DA John Snyder, a former aide ot Jesse Helms.
NC Ping!
Cool. I’m not up on football so I’m not very familiar with him. I hope he’s conservative.
Thanks to Clintonfatigued for the ping.
Note to self: when pinging the list, remember to ping the list.
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