Bill Cook formally announces bid for NC Senate seat | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.

    Bill Cook, current representative from the Sixth House district, announced today that he will not run again for the House but will, instead, run for the N. C. Senate from District One. He made the announcement before several dozen supporters at Franks Italian Restaurant in Washington.

    Greg Dority, chairman of the Beaufort County Republican Party was master of ceremonies. He introduced Hood Richardson who had run for the seat last time and had been considering running again. Hood announced that he had been waiting for a conservative candidate to step forward and with Cook doing so he would not run but would seek re-election to the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.

    Wayne Langston who had previously announced that he would run for the Senate seat was introduced and he announced that he would now decline to run and would be supporting Cook.

    You can watch the announcement in the video clip below:



    In a brief interview afterwards Cook said he is running for the Senate because he wants to insure that a conservative will hold the seat. Cook was awarded recognition by the Civitas Institute as one of the most effective conservative members of the House last term because of his voting record.

    No other Republicans have announced that they will run for the seat but current appointed Senator Stan White from Dare County has announced that he will see election as a Democrat.

    Cook said: "We made a great deal of progress last session. We reduced taxes, cutting the sales tax by 1% and reducing spending while protecting teaching positions in our classrooms. We took steps to make North Carolina more business friendly to promote job creation. We have reduced government regulation and intrusion in our lives but there is still much to be done. We could have done more had Beverly Perdue, supported by Stan White, not vetoed a number of worthwhile bills. That is a major reason we need to elect Republicans in both the House and Senate next time and a Republican governor. That will allow us to return this state to fiscally responsible government and the principles that made this state great."

    When asked for an example of what he was talking about he spoke about the recent session in which the House failed to override Perdue veto of the repeal of the Racial Justice Act. "The Racial Justice Act is nothing in the world but a sneaky way of abolishing capital punishment in this state. I am strongly opposed to that and believe that we must have capital punishment for those especially heinous crimes that juries feel it is approriate. My opponent in this race voted to abolish capital punishment and I want to work to keep it for those cases where it is appropriate. I voted to override Perdue's veto. Sen. White voted to sustain it. I voted to cut spending and taxes, he voted to spend more and for higher taxes. The voters will have a clear and distinct choice this time. I just ask every voter to compare our voting records and I believe if they will that they will vote for me."

    The primary is May 8.