Republican Lee Haywood has announced he’s giving the 6th District congressional race another shot in 2022.
Haywood was the Republican candidate in 2020 and lost to 6th District Congresswoman Kathy Manning by a landslide.
Manning won with 62 percent of the vote to 38 percent for Haywood, who campaigned hard but was up against some formidable obstacles.
The 6th District was redrawn for the 2020 election making it heavily Democratic. The current 6th District includes all of Guilford County and the portion of Forsyth County that includes Winston-Salem. There is one Republican on the Winston-Salem City Council and no Republicans are on the Greensboro City Council, which gives a good indication of how far left the two largest cities in the district tilt.
Although nothing is impossible in politics, it would be extremely difficult for anyone with an R beside their name to win the current 6th District, which may cause some to wonder why Haywood is so quick to jump back into this race.
The answer to that question may be that nobody knows what the 6th District is going to look like in 2022, but what is known is that it is not going to be the same 6th District as in 2020.
The 2020 Census is awarding North Carolina another congressional seat, which means the state will have to be divvied up into 14 fairly equal pieces instead of the current 13.
From 1984 until 2020, the 6th District was represented by a Republican, first the late Congressman Howard Coble for 30 years and then former Congressman Mark Walker for six. The lines for the district changed frequently but it remained a safe Republican district until 2020.
It is certainly possible that when the redistricting for the 2022 election is completed the 6th District will be Republican or competitive and Haywood will be first in line for the Republican nomination.
In the press release announcing his candidacy Haywood said, “Our current representative has rubber stamped every socialistic item on Nancy Pelosi’s wish list. The upcoming 2022 Congressional Election will determine if we have a representative that turns their back on working families and small businesses for partisan advancement or get back on track with the promise of a Free Market economic system that promotes opportunity. We are at the crossroads in our nation where we must choose between freedom or government control of everyday life.”
Haywood says his campaign will focus on public safety, fiscal responsibility and education reform.
Lee has no chance to get elected, but Mark Walker would be a great one even though he said he’s running for Senate to replace Richard Burr.
Mark Walker ran away because he was afraid of losing to any Democrat who would run in the 6th District when the redistricting was done. I won’t vote for a scardey cat ever.
If Haywood wants my vote he has to be a more aggressive candidate than he was in 2020. He also needs to talk to Lt. Gov. Robinson about the priorities for NC which are supporting law enforcement, stopping the teaching of
critical race theory in NC schools, stopping tax increases and social program spending.