The tiny Haywood County Town of Clyde has joined a growing number of Western North Carolina communities by formalizing its opposition to data centers through a 12-month moratorium, but with limited jurisdiction beyond its borders and the possibility of preemption by Raleigh looming, Clyde knows it can’t go it alone.

Two counties hit hard by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina will soon have a new representative in the General Assembly, after Republican Primary Election voters backed a challenger who won by nearly 10 points. 

Haywood and Madison counties comprise the 118th House District and together tallied more than $200 million in losses from the Sept. 27, 2024, storm, which caused $60 billion in damage statewide. 

Three-term Republican Rep. Mark Pless will not be returning to Raleigh next year after his defeat by longtime Haywood County Schools board member Jimmy Rogers. 

Under a mountainside that had slipped again and again, residents of Thistle Ridge faced a grim reality — unstable ground, blocked roads and no clear path forward. 

For more than four years, bureaucratic delays and shifting priorities left a vital infrastructure fix stalled while families worried their homes could be lost and emergency access cut off. Then, Rep. Mark Pless took up their cause. 

Western North Carolina’s next election cycle is already shaping up amid a volatile mix of entrenched incumbents, disaster recovery fallout and deepening national divides, with competitive races stretching from the U.S. Senate on down to county-level offices. 

While marquee statewide contests appear to be headed toward familiar General Election matchups, cracks are emerging down the ballot, where public trust and institutional legitimacy are demanding attention from voters now more than any other time in recent memory. 

Democrat Danny Davis has announced that he will challenge Republican incumbent Mark Pless for North Carolina 118th House District, made up of Haywood and Madison counties.

To  the Editor:

After learning that N.C. Senate leader Phil Berger was considering further redistricting in North Carolina, I sent the following petition to Rep. Mark Pless, Sen. Kevin Corbin, U.S. Senators Thom Tillis and Ted Budd on October 10. I encourage all N.C. residents to educate themselves about this issue and communicate with their representatives: 

Waynesville isn’t just another mountain town still recovering from Hurricane Helene — it’s Haywood County’s economic, cultural and governmental hub. Nearly everything that happens in the largest municipality in the state’s western seven counties has ripple effects beyond its borders, from disaster recovery and infrastructure planning to affordable housing and fiscal stability.  

The American Flood Coalition's Recovery and Resilience Partnership is barely six months old, but it’s already helping to deliver results in the form of a $20 million mitigation grant program aimed at helping communities in Western North Carolina recover from Hurricane Helene and prepare for the next storm.

On the nine-month anniversary of Hurricane Helene, Gov. Josh Stein signed the North Carolina General Assembly’s fifth major installment of recovery funding — a sweeping $575 million package aimed at rebuilding roads, bridges, schools and government infrastructure across the state’s western region while omitting the $60 million in small business grant support that House lawmakers had supported.