Graig Meyer appointed as Foushee replacement

The Orange and Durham County Democratic Parties voted Thursday night to appoint Graig Meyer to fill the District 50 N.C. House of Representatives seat left vacant by new state Sen. Valerie Foushee.

After two rounds of voting, the four-person selection committee — composed of two representatives from each county’s party — selected Meyer. Votes were split among five of the seven candidates in the first round of voting, and members gave Meyer unanimous backing in the second round.

Meyer, the director of student equity and volunteer services for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, will serve the remainder of Foushee’s term, which will last a little more than a year. The N.C. General Assembly will convene again in May for the short session.

“It takes a certain amount of ego to step up for political office,” Meyer said in his acceptance speech. “But I am more humbled than I have ever been before, and I look forward to fighting for my community and for the state of North Carolina.”

Also in the running were Drew Nelson, a lawyer; Laurin Easthom, Chapel Hill Town Council member; Danielle Adams, Durham County Soil and Water Conservation district supervisor; Travis Phelps, a paint company color consultant; Tommy McNeill, owner of a medical supply company; and Orange County Commissioner Bernadette Pelissier.

“All of the choices the committee could have made would have been good, and Graig will be an outstanding representative who will make Durham and Orange counties extremely proud,” said Ted Benson, the non-voting chairman of the committee.

After listening to a three-minute speech from each nominee, the committee went into caucus for 10 minutes before returning with the first vote. After the vote had no decisive result, the committee caucused again for less than three minutes before revealing the selection.

Will Wilson, one of the committee members from Durham County, said the first vote was an individual assessment, but by the second round, they wanted to unify the committee behind the winner.

“We treated (the first vote) as if it were a primary for the candidates,” he said. “There would have been several great choices, and it’s too bad we couldn’t have all of them.”

Meyer said his priorities in office will be to advocate for public education and teachers and to repeal the state’s new voter identification law.

“(Teachers and education) are important and cannot be vilified or devalued,” he said. “Voting affects every other issue, so it’s important to fight for people’s right to vote.”

Gov. Pat McCrory will have a week to officially confirm Meyer as representative of District 50. If Meyer is not named within a week, he will automatically assume the position and can then be sworn in at any location with an appropriate government official of his choosing.

Meyer said he wants to emphasize a positive national image for the state.

“Recently someone came up to me and said they wished they weren’t ashamed to be from North Carolina anymore,” he said. “I am not ashamed to be from North Carolina. And I want to make the people of North Carolina proud again to say, ‘I am from the great state of North Carolina.’”

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