Seven Republicans were vying for the opportunity to go up against Democrat 6th District Congresswoman Kathy Manning in November and Christian Castelli came out on top.
Manning, who is a first term congresswoman, did not have a Democratic primary opponent.
Castelli won a hard fought race in the Republican primary with 36 percent of the vote, defeating Lee Haywood with 34 percent. Castelli needed over 30 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff primary and he made that margin with room to spare.
Castelli and Haywood finished far ahead of the other five Republican candidates – some of whom didn’t raise enough money to run a good district city council race but did pay their filing fees and got their names on the ballot.
Finishing third was Dr. Mary Ann Contogiannis with 12 percent, fourth was Gerry Austin with 6 percent, fifth Laura Pichardo with 4.4 percent, sixth was Marvin Boguslawski with 4 percent and seventh was Bill Schuch with 3 percent.
According to Ballotpedia, Castelli raised over $220,000 compared to $58,000 for Haywood. Manning reportedly has $1.5 million in her campaign account.
Castelli has an impressive resume of service to the country. He is a retired US Army Special Forces lieutenant colonel and a combat veteran.
Haywood was the Republican 6th District candidate in the 2020 election and lost to Manning in a 6th District that was decidedly different from the current 6th District.
The 6th District for the 2022 election was drawn by the North Carolina courts after the redistricting map drawn by the North Carolina legislature was ruled unconstitutional by the NC Supreme Court.
The current 6th District includes all of Guilford County, a portion of Forsyth County that includes most of Winston-Salem, all of Rockingham County and all but a small portion of Caswell County.
According to two political rating outlets, the current 6th District is ranked as “Likely Democrat” and one outlet ranks it “Solid Democrat.” “Likely” indicates that that one party has an advantage but an upset is possible while “Solid” indicates that the race is not competitive.
I never heard of Castelli, and voted for Haywood, but maybe Castelli was the right choice. Hopefully that $220,000 didn’t come from the swamp. My guess would be that it did, but time will tell. It’s generally not a good idea to rerun a candidate who already lost, as Haywood did against Manning. And I lost trust in Haywood when Jon Hardister won the gun raffle. Maybe it was legit, but that didn’t smell right to me.
Her name is Kathy Kaplan.
You’re right, and she proudly went by her maiden name after marriage – until she entered politics. Then she became Kathy Manning.
It’s reckoned she felt Kaplan sounded too Jewish… (she is Jewish).
Well, if you like Biden, the inflation rate and high gasoline prices and etc., etc. vote Manning.
Where does Castelli live? Hours from Greensboro? If he doesn’t live here what does he know about the community? Maybe a candidate should know more than I-40 runs through the city. How can he lobby for our medical services, infrastructure, broadband, our schools and more when he doesn’t live here? Did not see his signs in front yards.
If you like Bidden, the high inflation rate, rising gasoline prices, etc., etc. then Manning is your choice.