Seen any Democrats around here lately? You know, the party of the donkey…or jackass, depending on your point of view.
With the ballot set for the upcoming local and state election you will not find a single Democrat running for any office in Floyd County.
No one. Not one. Nada.
Back in the 1960s my granddaddy would joke that the Floyd County Democratic Party could meet in a phone booth.
Not many phone booths left nowadays. Even fewer Democrats — especially in Floyd County.
Come January, the county board of supervisors will be all Republican. Not even an independent in the mix. Burks Fork Democrat Bill Gardner is leaving the board after just one term.
He says he’s tired.
Maybe he’s tired of being outnumbered.
All of the candidates for the board of supervisors are Republicans. No Democrat even filed. No independents either.
Sheriff Shannon Zeman, a Republican, seeks re-election. His two opponents — former deputy Laura Sparks and “God told me to run” Paul Hill — filed as independents.
Incumbent Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Shortt — running for re-election as an independent — is unopposed. No Republican, Democrat or independent wanted to take her on, or maybe nobody else wants the job.
Shortt may be a Democrat, but she’s not admitting to an affiliation with any political party. She won the office four years ago as an independent. That’s her story and she’s sticking to it.
Candidates for Commissioner of Revenue and Treasurer? Republican, both of them, and unopposed.
Two of the three open school board races are contested but all the challengers call themselves independents and the education system elections are “officially” non-partisan. Scratch any of the existing school members or those seeking election and you will most likely find an elephant lurking just under skin.
Excluding Shortt, the remaining, so-called “independent” challengers for seats are Republicans.
Floyd Town Council elections are also considered non-partisan so party affiliation is not declared. There may be a closet Democrat in there but nobody’s admitting anything.
Some of the candidates for the school board and town council have ties to the Floyd Tea Party but they aren’t touting it. Recent polls show the tea party about as popular with voters as Barack Obama at a Klan rally.
We could ask a Democrat what they think about one-party rule in Floyd County.
If we could find one.
(For the record, the author of this article is not now, nor has he ever been, a member of any political party. His credo is: “I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican. I am an American. There is a difference.”)
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3 thoughts on “Calling all Democrats. Hello, any Democrats out there?”
Apparently no Democrats want to comment here either . . .
I’ve lived in Floyd for 20 years. Strike One – I wasn’t born/raised here. I am a pretty liberal thinker – Strike Two. This is Floyd. I’m still waiting for it to change.
Change?! Remember the furor over even considering letting Food Lion build here. Heaven forbid a little progress. Now let’s hope somehow this century we could actually get an ABC store here.
It’s a sad state of affairs when the political news is printed in the FP and it’s only republican as if that should be the norm. Last time I checked, we were a 2-party govt with heavy independent influence, although not so much in SW Va.
Can’t say I blame Bill Gardner’s decision when you see a couple of the folks he’s had to serve with. It’s embarrassing.
Oh, and BTW, I am an American and republican, although that is under review. (Oh, and “not from around here.”)
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