Clampitt and Queen to face off once more in November for state house seat
After taking home 59 percent of the vote in last week’s election, Mike Clampitt, R-Bryson City, is looking toward a November contest against incumbent Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, for the N.C. House District 119 seat.
“I believe that maintaining the House majority will be an asset in my race, to have an effective representative for Jackson, Swain and Haywood counties,” Clampitt said.
According to Clampitt, Queen has been “very ineffective” during his two terms in the House because, as a Democrat in a Republican-run legislature, he’s found little support for legislation he’s wanted passed.
Queen, meanwhile, said it’s time for a wholesale change in state leadership, and voters are ready to make that happen.
“I think the choices are clear for North Carolina,” Queen said. “We can continue with obstructionism and trickle down or we can have the North Carolina we all grew up in — a progressive state moving forward with opportunity for all.”
It won’t be the first — or even the second — faceoff for Queen and Clampitt. The two first met in the 2012 General Election, and then again in 2014. Clampitt lost both times, garnering 48.3 percent to Queen’s 51.7 percent in 2012 and 47.4 percent to Queen’s 52.6 percent in 2014. Queen, an architect and businessman, is in his second term in the House, having previously served three terms in the Senate.
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Clampitt is counting on the high turnout expected with the presidential election to bolster his poll numbers come November.
But Aaron Littlefield, R-Cullowhee, who had been Clampitt’s opponent in this primary election and in 2014, feels Clampitt should do some thinking about his message as well.
“I think my message of Raleigh not necessarily prioritizing Western North Carolina resonated,” Littlefield said. “ I think that if Mr. Clampitt plans to secure the people that opted not to vote for him in the primary, it would be wise of him to see which part of our message resonated and incorporate that into his message.”
If voters feel like the ballot gives them no choice outside the status quo, Littlefield said, they may just vote for president and leave the House contest blank.
Littlefield and Clampitt are certainly about as different as two candidates of the same party can get. Clampitt is a 61-year-old Bryson City native and sixth-generation mountaineer who retired 11 years ago from a career with Charlotte’s fire department. He largely agrees with how the Republican-led legislature has run. Littlefield, meanwhile, is a 23-year-old graduate of Western Carolina University who calls Jackson County home. He substitute teaches in its public schools but grew up in Concord and has taken some positions outside of the typical Republican platform.
Littlefield said he hasn’t ruled out a 2018 run, though any decision would come later and be made jointly with his wife, as elections place the whole family under scrutiny. In the meantime, he plans to stay active in local politics and support Clampitt’s candidacy in November.
Republican primary, N.C. House 119
Entire district
Mike Clampitt 59.2 percent
Aaron Littlefield 40.9 percent
Ballots cast 6,670
Jackson
Mike Clampitt 54.8 percent
Aaron Littlefield 45.2 percent
Swain
Mike Clampitt 71.8 percent
Aaron Littlefield 28.3 percent
Haywood
Mike Clampitt 58.8 percent
Aaron Littlefield 41.2 percent
Clampitt will run against Rep. Joe Sam Queen, D-Waynesville, to represent Jackson, Swain and part of Haywood County as the N.C. House 119 representative.
