Carney has Iredell GOP's nod for Senate seat

By: Dale Gowing | Mooresville Tribune
Published: November 18, 2011

Mooresville commissioner and mayor pro tem Chris Carney has the endorsement of Republican leaders in Iredell County to serve the remaining year of the N.C. Senate term of the late James Forrester.

Carney, 40, said Thursday he was approached by the Iredell County Republican Party about the District 41 vacancy, and said he has the blessing of such GOP leaders as current N.C. Rep. Grey Mills of Mooresville and Iredell County Board of Commissioners Chairman Steve Johnson.

“I am very humbled by this,” said Carney, who is in his second term as Ward 4 commissioner in Mooresville. “I have met with everybody and I plan to allow them to put my name in. I would be happy to accept the nomination for that seat.”

By law, the task of finding someone to fill remaining term of Republican Forrester, who died unexpectedly last month while serving his 11^th term, falls to GOP leaders in the three counties that comprise the 41st District. The seat will be up for election next November.

Although Forrester lived in Lincoln County, nearly 47 percent of District 41’s residents live in Iredell. Sixty-one percent of Iredell’s population lives in District 41, with the other 39 percent split between District 36 (20 percent) and District 42 (19 percent).

And while all of Lincoln lies in District 41, that county’s entire population comprises less than 38 percent of the district. The northeast corner of Gaston County accounts for the remaining approximately 16 percent.

For much more on this story, see Friday's Mooresville Tribune.