Mike Clampitt, the Swain County native and retired fire captain who represented portions of Western North Carolina in the General Assembly until his passing after a long illness on March 18, was laid to rest at the Lauada Cemetery in Bryson City on April 4, after a service at Western Carolina University’s Bardo Arts Center. 

In October 2018, Raleigh lobbyist Fred Bone was traveling in Western North Carolina and decided to go for an overnight backpacking trip in Swain County, leaving his car at Fontana Lake. From there, he caught a ride to the Road to Nowhere, from which he embarked. 

After setting up camp in a rainstorm and suffering a rough night, Bone broke camp early the next morning and headed out, but he needed a ride from the trailhead back to his car. He found a cell signal near a mountaintop and called the only person he could think of in the area that he thought might be up for a quick favor — Mike Clampitt. It was 9:30 a.m. on the first day of early voting for a host of elections, including Clampitt’s.   

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. 

Sales executive Ken Brown says he’ll enter the Republican Primary for North Carolina’s 118th House District, setting up a challenge to incumbent Rep. Mark Pless. 

A relative newcomer to electoral politics but a familiar figure in conservative circles, Brown will campaign on a platform of “servant leadership,” with an emphasis on collaboration, transparency and deference to local governments. 

Republican Mike Clampitt, currently serving his fourth term as District 119 House Rep., tells The Smoky Mountain News he plans to run for reelection in 2026 despite recent health concerns. In April, Clampitt announced that he had been diagnosed with a rare, serious form of blood and bone marrow cancer known as Myelodysplastic syndrome. 

Western North Carolina Republican Congressman Chuck Edwards will host an in-person town hall on Thursday, March 13, from 6-7:30 p.m. in the Ferguson Auditorium at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College.

When the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians overwhelmingly approved a measure to get into the recreational marijuana business last week, it set up a showdown of sorts with Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-Henderson) that could have far-reaching negative ramifications for the tribe.