The energy was high last night after the polls closed.  Many Republicans (candidates and supporters) met at Magnolia’s in downtown Asheville to watch the election results.  A few blocks away, Carl Mumpower, candidate for Congress, had a celebration at his campaign headquarters.  It is clear that the energy and enthusiasm within the Republican Party is growing.  With such a great slate of candidates, it will continue to grow and carry us to victory in November!

Check out the election results

And here’s the news from the Citizen-Times:

Mumpower defeats Campbell, Armor - Carl Mumpower will face the Democratic incumbent in November.

Perdue, McCrory to vie for governor - Pat McCrory moves ahead after a tough primary against several other great Republican candidates.

Jones, Dunn cruise in Buncombe commissioners race - Congratulations to Joe Dunn, John Carroll, Don Yelton, and Ron McKee, who will all be on the ballot in November.

Check out this fun interactive game from CQ Politics. Don’t miss the first round, which ends tomorrow! Every week, you can vote on those candidates who have made it to the next round.

Click here to go to VP Madness

We had a wonderful debate Thursday night with all of the Republican gubernatorial candidates participating. We received some terrific press before and after the debate. Check out these news stories in the Asheville Citizen-Times:

GOP candidates for governor face off in final debate

GOP candidates to address YMI audience for last debate

Also, take a look at photos from the event on our Photo Gallery page, as well as some pre-debate video on our Video Gallery page.  The Asheville Citizen-Times also has a wonderful slideshow of photos from the debate.

A great big thank you to everyone from Buncombe County who attended the annual 11th District Convention today. Buncombe County was well represented with more delegates than any other county.

Our own chairman, Dr. Timothy Johnson, was elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. Another of our members, Bill Lack, was elected as an alternate. Congratulations to them both!

The energy in the auditorium was high and the discussion was lively. The Congressional Candidates Debate was highly informative and enjoyable. Special thanks to our 11th District Chairman, Stephen Duncan, and his committee for putting together a great convention!

The entire day’s proceedings were recorded and will be posted online. We will add it to our video gallery page just as soon as we get them.

Welcome to the brand new buncombegop.org website! We’ve taken the wealth of information that has always been available on this site and reorganized it so that it’s easier for you to find what you are looking for. We’ve also added new information about who we are, what our goals and principles are, and how you can help.

Take a look at our Video Gallery page, full of locally produced political videos that highlight our Republican candidates, clubs, and events.  Don’t forget to subscribe to our mailing list using the form on the right side of every page.

We hope this website is a valuable resource to you and your family. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to contact us!

April 17 marks the beginning of early voting. Early voting is a convenient way for you to cast your ballot before the primary election on May 6.

• Early voting begins April 17th and ends on Saturday, May 3rd.
• Find an early voting location in your county.
• If you are not registered to vote, you can do so by taking a form of identification that includes your name and address to an early voting site in your county. Check the list of acceptable forms of identification.
• Don’t forget to check out this Judicial Slatecard from the NC GOP.

A Congressional candidates debate was recently recorded for URTV.

All 3 candidates - Armor, Campbell, and Mumpower all participated. The debate was moderated by Buncombe GOP Chairman, Dr. Tim Johnson.

You can catch the debate online: http://urtvforums.org/debate.php

This video requires that you have Flash installed.

At the Buncombe County Republican Party’s Convention on Saturday, March 1, 2008, the BCGOP elected Dr. Timothy F. Johnson as Chairman of the party, to serve until March 2009. Dr. Johnson is the founder of the Black Republicans of Western North Carolina and is the first African-American to serve as the Chairman of the Buncombe County Republican Party. His nomination, election, and short speech to the delegation on the importance of inclusiveness inspired 3 standing ovations.

Dr. Johnson is the President and CEO of Leadership 101, a leadership training company. Dr. Johnson has served in the US Army. He serves on several boards and is an Adjunct Professor at Shaw University. He is married to Latessa Johnson, Director of Student Services at Asheville City Schools. They are members of the Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. He has four children from his previous marriage and is the proud grandfather of two

Congratulations to Mark Delk, BCGOP Chairman. and to Rick Jenkins and Robin Ramsey, cochairs of the Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner, for an exciting and successful event hosted by Kathy Corn at the Asheville Ballroom. Here are the Straw Poll Results from 2008 Lincoln-Reagan Day Dinner.

Q1: If the election were held today, whom would you vote for for Governor?

1. Senator Fred Smith, 50 votes
2. Justice Robert Orr, 23 votes
3. Bill Graham, 17 votes
4. Mayor Pat McCrory, 0 votes

Q2: If the election were held today, whom would you vote for as our Congressman?

1. Carl Mumpower, 67 votes
2. Spence Campbell, 15 votes
3. John Armor, 3 votes

Q3: Whom would you like to see as our nominee’s Vice Presidential pick?

1. Huckabee, 19 votes
2. Romney, 12 votes
3. Sanford, Rice, and Crist, 6 votes each
4. Candidates receiving 1, 2 or 3 votes each: Gingrich, Yelton, Hunter, Burr, Dole, Hutchinson, Johnson (Tim), Tancredo, Watts, Bloomberg, and Barbour.

For those of you who missed our very informative debate last night, you can watch it now online on google video. Many thanks to Richard Bernier for filming and producing this wonderful resource.

Watch the video here