Ben Chavis, the controversial rumored pick to take the reins of the N.C. Democratic Party, was not appointed executive director Tuesday night.
Instead, Casey Mann, who has served as the party’s state director for the past year, was appointed interim executive director by the executive council.
Mann said in an interview Tuesday night that the council would reconvene in 30 days to either pick the new executive director or keep Mann as interim director.
Matt Hughes, chairman of the Orange County Democratic Party, confirmed that Chairman Randy Voller had wanted Chavis, a former NCAAP executive director who has had his name attached to several scandals, to take over the day-to-day leadership of the state party.
“The chairman has selected who he wants and will be putting that name forward,” Hughes said in an interview Tuesday afternoon. “It is a unilateral decision that the chairman has made.”
Mann said she wasn’t expecting to be named interim director.
“I am very honored that the executive council has heard my year of service to the party,” she said. “I’m a campaign girl. My days are often spent in the field.”
“I believe that (people) are desperate to have an opportunity to raise their voices,” she said. “I am full of confidence in the North Carolina Democratic Party and in the people of North Carolina that they will be able to win in 2014.”
The news broke on Sunday night that Voller fired former executive director Robert Dempsey. Dempsey served as executive director for less than a year, and took office in the midst of discontent within the state Democratic Party.
“We’re a family, and I myself, being from a large family, clearly understand that you don’t always necessarily get along with your brothers and sisters, but at the end of the day … we’re going to come together as a unified party, stronger than ever,” Dempsey told the Daily Tar Heel shortly after his appointment in June.
The Daily Tar Heel will update when more information becomes available.
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