From the Newark Advocate:
Councilman Cecil Bothwell is mounting a challenge to Rep. Heath Shuler for the 11th Congressional District.
Bothwell will run as an independent in 2012, facing Shuler and an as-yet-unknown Republican nominee. He announced his bid Sunday on a new campaign website, www.Bothwell4Congress.wordpress.com.
“In the 30-some years that I’ve lived in Buncombe County, I haven’t felt well represented in Congress,” Bothwell said Sunday. “Sometimes, if you want to get something done, you arrive at the conclusion that you have to do it yourself.”
Bothwell’s decision to withdraw his name from the race to become Buncombe County Democratic Party chairman hastened the announcement, which he had planned on making in the fall. As it is, the campaign website is bare of campaign information, something Bothwell indicates will be unrolled in the not so distant future.
Bothwell, a progressive, will face a difficult time getting onto the ballot- even the powerful labor union SEIU failed to get its third party onto the ballot to run progressive candidates against more conservative Democrats (including Schuler). A petition would need thousands of signatures, totaling 4% of the total number of registered voters in the district.
Republicans control redistricting in North Carolina, so it is unclear (although unlikely) if they will target Democrat Heath Schuler and significantly modify the makeup of the district.
That is true, although before the independent petition they tried to qualify the party and failed. However, at first news it does not seem the SEIU has not offered him their backing- and I suspect that after the Republican wave in 2010 they may be skeptical of trying to knock out Schuler.
That being said, I don’t think Republicans target the seat in redistricting. Schuler is already hanging on in a really Republican district, and there are at least two other Democrats who could be eliminated with less energy- better to turn Schuler into a Democratic vote sink and shore up weaker districts.
The SEIU held a successful petition drive to qualify an independent candidate in the 8th District last year (though he then declined to run). There’s no reason they couldn’t do so in the 11th, if that is who is behind the Bothwell candidacy. However, that district is expected to become more Republican in the redistricting process.