Conservative Candidate Fights RINOs in NC 13th District Primary

WASHINGTON, April 28, 2012—In the 2010 midterms, voters sent two black Republicans to the House. Allen West (FL-22) and Tim Scott (SC-01) were the only two of a field of 32 to make it, and are currently the only African American Republicans in Congress. Bill Randall was in the field with West and Scott, and is coming back for a second try this year in North Carolina's 13th district. "The district has been redrawn, and now it is more favorable for a Republican," Randall said in an exclusive interview with the Washington Times Communities. North Carolina holds its primary on May 8. Randall was defeated in the general election in 2010 by Democrat Brad Miller, who is not seeking re-election. A retired Command Master Chief in the Navy, Randall grew up in Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, where he was "taught personal responsibility, integrity, and love for God, family, and country." A lifetime sailor, Randall learned to appreciate hard work and American values and goodness. Only a handful of service members ever attain the position of Command Master Chief, the highest enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy. "The Tea Party is something that liberals fear, so they're trying to discredit it," said Randall. "One of the labels that have been put on the Tea Party is they're racist. When you have a black, conservative, Tea Party Republican…that's a threat." He wants to solve problems. Life on a Navy ship has given him some perspective. When you are confronted by issues, "you don't put them on the side. You look to the senior enlisted leadership to solve problems." Randall is composed and steady, and ready for the fight.

I would love for Bill Randall to win the nomination (and thus the seat), since he’s a true patriot and was man enough to run in 2010 in a much tougher district. But Randall can’t just mail it in and think that he can win based on his Tea Party credentials; he needs to get off his a$$ and raise some money (he had raised less than $8,000 as of Dec. 31 while his primary opponents had raised hundreds of thousands),and he needs to update his website, which is still stuck in 2010 and his race against Miller. Check it out, his greeting talks about the counties in the old district:

http://www.randallforcongress.com/

I beg to differ. Bill Randall is not mailing it in—he’s the only candidate to have visited all of the 9 counties that make up the 13th district, something that the RINOs have not done nor will not do. His web site is accurate—the 9 counties listed ARE the current areas in the 13th district. Concerning raising money, true, Randall has not benefited from the banking, insurance, and law special interests, as have the two RINOs; that is because they know Randall will not do their bidding in Congress.

So, while you profess to support Randall, AuH2ORepublican, it seems that you are spreading false information.

Boy, is my face red. Mustachistan, you are absolutely right, the 9 counties listed on the website are indeed from the new NC-13. I saw Granville and immediately thought it was from the old CD, but I just noticed that the CD does still go that far north. My apologies.

But the fact remains that Randall’s website has very few updates from his general-election race against Miller two years ago. The “endorsements” page doesn’t list any endorsements more recent than October 2010 (though the main page does list Herman Cain’s March 2012 endorsement). And the post that was added immediately before the 9-counties post is all about Randall’s matchup against Miller in 2010, but Miller announced months ago that he isn’t running for reelection in the NC-13 (and subsequently said he won’t run in the NC-04 either. Even the “issues” section is old—regarding economics, it keeps comparing Randall’s views to Miller’s record. http://www.randallforcongress.com/issues/economy/economicreality.html

Mustachistan, if you have access to Bill Randall, please let him know that not having an up-to-date website gives potential donors a false impression about Randall’s commitment to the race.

And as for Randall’s lack of fundraising, I don’t think one needs to be a RINO beholden to special interests to raise a decent amount of money. But more to the point, it’s going to be extremely difficult to beat Coble or Holding in the primary without any money for advertising or GOTV.

I have been clear that I’d prefer Randall to win the GOP primary, since I know that he’s a principled conservative (I don’t know about Holding or Coble), would easily win the general against whichever third-tier Democrat wins the nomination, and would become another nail in the coffin for the Democrats’ stranglehold over black voters, but I’m not going to be a Pollyana and pretend that Randall can win based solely on integrity and Tea Party volunteers. The GOP nominee won’t be selected at a lightly attended caucus; it will be a relatively high-turnout primary, and if most voters don’t know who Randall is he’s not going to do very well. I hope I’m wrong in my assessment of the race, but I’m not counting Randall among the half-dozen black Republicans with a strong chance of being elected to Congress this year (a list that includes Congressmen Tim Scott of SC-01 and Allen West of FL-15 (IIRC; it used to be FL-22), Vernon Robinson of NC-08, Michael Williams of TX-25, Mia Love of UT-04 and Vernon Parker of AZ-09; if Erika Harold is selected as Tim Johnson’s replacement in IL-15, she’d be the seventh). Randall has a week and a half to turn his campaign around and finish in the top-two on May 8 and make the runoff (I’m assuming that no one will get 40%+ in the forst round), and then fight one-on-one against Holding or Coble for the nomination.

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