“Get Carter”
Ashe County coach Roy Carter to run against Virginia Foxx

By Scott Nicholson

Roy Carter may have recognized the work ahead when he chose Labor Day to announce his candidacy for the Fifth District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Roy Carter signs documents setting up his exploratory campaign. Submitted Photo

Carter, a teacher and coach, announced his candidacy Monday during a Labor Day gathering at his home in West Jefferson. A western North Carolina native with little political experience, he teaches in the Wilkes County public school system and is the head coach of the North Wilkes High School football team.

Carter said even though he’s never held office, he’s worked on previous Congressional campaigns as a volunteer and has been active at the precinct and county level. “I don’t think I have to be an experienced person to align with the voting record of the Fifth District,” he said, saying he’s always been interested in politics and has been passionate about the young people with whom he’s worked for 40 years.

He said incumbent Republican Virginia Foxx had not represented the beliefs of her constituents and suggested she played partisan politics. “I’m going to run against her record,” Carter said. “I don’t believe they (legislative votes) supp0rt the ideals and bipartisanship of the Fifth District.”

Carter said the health-care system “is broken and needs a fix,” adding young people need better access to health care. “I don’t think the Republican Party is taking any initiative in that area.”

He also questioned the state of the economy, saying that despite signs of growth, home foreclosures were up and mortgage companies were in trouble. He also said the Iraq war was ill advised. “We need to get our boys and girls home and save as much face as possible,” he said. “I will be a bipartisan voice and vote the conscience of this district.”

“I am truly honored to run for Congress in this great region of North Carolina, a place I am proud to call my home. As we gather on this Labor Day, we must remember that the working families of our district deserve a true and honest representative of the people every day of the year,” said Carter in a statement at the event. “ I grew up in these mountains, I have raised a family in western North Carolina, and I know the kind of struggles that our citizens face daily.”

“In my life and in my career, I have never been to shy to step up to a challenge and stick to my principles,” Carter said. “I will not sit on the sidelines at a time when our district needs an effective leader who will bring people together and find real solutions for economic prosperity, educational excellence, and healthcare reform. I am ready and willing to serve the people of our district as their personal advocate in Congress.”

Carter has taught in three of the counties in the district and plans to retire after the current football season to focus on his campaign. “That’s the reason I’m out (campaigning) so early,” he said. “The only chance I’ve got is to work extra hard for the next year.”

He also acknowledged he was coming in with a financial disadvantage that was part of the reason for his early entry into the race. “She’s got a war chest and I don’t,” he said. “That’s a challenge, to raise money to stand toe to toe with her.”

The Fifth Congressional District includes Alexander, Alleghany, Ashe, Davie, Surry, Stokes, Watauga, Wilkes, and Yadkin Counties as well as portions of Forsyth,

Iredell, and Rockingham. It has long been a Republican stronghold, but Carter said Democrat Heath Shuler’s success in unseating longtime incumbent Charles Taylor in the 11th District showed that no candidate was unbeatable.

In 2004, Foxx, then a state senator, emerged as an underdog in a crowded field of Republican candidates who vied to replace long-time Fifth District Rep. Richard Burr, a Republican who ran successfully for U.S. Senate. Foxx beat Democrat Jim Harrell with 60 percent of the vote to win her first term. In 2006, she beat Democratic challenger Roger Sharpe by a 57-43 percent margin.

As of Foxx’s last campaign finance report at the end of 2006, she had $682,000 on hand, with 63 percent of her money coming from individual donations. She spent $741,000 in the 2005-06 election cycle.

In response to the announcement of Carter’s candidacy, Foxx issued a statement saying, “The election filing deadlines are months away and I have filed a statement of intent of my plans to file for re-election in 2008. Right now I am busy doing the work that the good people of the Fifth District elected me to do less than a year ago. I am looking forward to continuing to serve and represent this great district in the United States House of Representatives.