An unusual fundraiser being held in the middle of the legislative session for Rep. Chris Malone and featuring Speaker Tim Moore is prompting speculation that the Republican lawmaker from Wake Forest is mulling a run for higher office. The name Malone should be familiar to readers who live in the Wake County area. Malone was a member of the GOP-dominated Board of Education which emphasized neighborhood schools and parental choice, whose work was derailed because of relentless attacks from the Rev. William Barber and the news media, before they turned their attention to the state legislature.
In 2012, Malone was elected to the State House; the controversial association with the WCBOE made his victory the narrowest of any Republican in that chamber. Two years later, Malone won by a much larger margin, despite Wake County being almost impervious to the GOP tidal wave that swept both the nation and the state.
The question is, if Malone is looking to move on up, which office is he planning to run for? Given his background in education, the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, which looks likely to be open in 2016, would seem the likely choice. The Auditor job would also be an ideal fit for Malone’s professional career as an investigator for a security company. In that case, Malone might have to go up against incumbent Auditor Beth Wood. In the case of the SPI job, it’s rumored that Malone’s fellow Rep. Tricia Cotham (D-Charlotte) is also interested.
If Malone does end up running for something other than State House, his seat in the legislature will become open. Democrats aren’t likely to pick it up, though. Besides Paul Stam’s seat in Southern Wake County, Malone’s is probably the most Republican of the Wake County House seats. It’s located in the northeastern part of the county and any Republican from that area should be favored.
Malone can choose from any number of options, but one thing is for sure: though the GOP fell short in nearly all of the Council of State races back in 2012 even while McCrory was winning a landslide victory, indications are that the party is gearing up to be more competitive next year. Last week we speculated that Sen. Tamara Barringer, another Wake County Republican, might run for Attorney General. Malone’s possible interest in a Council of State position is yet more evidence that the GOP is looking to play in the Council of State races.
John Wynne is the “conservative voice” at PoliticsNC, where he also provides polling analysis and commentary on legislative campaigns. When not writing about politics, he enjoys gardening and listening to opera. Contact: johncwynne@gmail.com.
The same Chris Malone who admitted to the police that he’d had an affair with Deborah Goldman while both were married to other people? Come on, people — just because he is photogenic doesn’t mean he is suitable for higher office. Can the GOP really not do better than this? Usually people have their baggage exposed *after* they’re elected, this guy is dragging his baggage behind him in plan view right now. This is the N&O article in which it was reported that he had described his relationship with Goldman as “personal and physical” to the police, comments that were included in an official police report:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/10/20/2426549_wake-school-board-member-named.html?rh=1
“What’s this about a police report?” you may ask…. like the poster above says: just google them.
Malone’s seat is NorthEASTERN Wake, not NW. Marilyn Avila used to have a similar district as Malone’s but lives enough in the central part of the county (North Raleigh) that they were able to draw her into NW Wake in 2011 instead of NE and still keep her in her same house, creating two GOP-leaning seats in the growing Northern suburbs of Raleigh. But Malone’s seat is more winnable than you think. We just haven’t had a candidate raise any sort of money to challenge him.
I’m always confounded by ordinal directions, so thanks for correcting me. I think the GOP would be favored to retain HD-35, but candidates matter a lot when it comes to swingy seats in places like Wake County. I guess we’ll see, that is if Malone runs for something else.
Please oh please let Chris Malone run for anything other than a safe GOP seat.
Having his escapes with Debra Goldman in statewide ads would be delicious.
Heck, just google their names together for the hilarious flashback.
Come on, John. The formerly GOP-led Wake BOE’s regressive agenda for public schools was “derailed” by Wake voters ousting the GOP from its BOE majority. Period. Ya see, John, ya get less votes then your Dem opponents, ya lose races, then ya lose majority power. Thought you, being a blogger on this site, knew that…..