Story by Cory Vaillancourt published in the Smoky Mountain News Feb. 4 ed. Republished
The Republican primary in House District 119 — Jackson, Swain and Transylvania counties — now unfolds against a backdrop of unresolved disaster recovery and rising voter frustration with a legislature that has struggled to deliver a state budget but still found time to strip powers from incoming Democrats and gerrymander another Republican congressional seat at the behest of President Donald Trump.
Overlaying — underpinning, actually — parts of the district is the Qualla Boundary, which sits at the intersection of tribal sovereignty and rural infrastructure, while wielding tremendous economic influence.
Political identity has become just as central to the race as policy. Republican voters are being asked to choose between continuity and disruption, institutional loyalty and independence, and competing visions of the party’s future. Trump’s popularity looms over the Primary Election, shaping contrasts between candidates who embrace his role in the party and those who reject it outright in clear, concise terms.
Those competing pressures have transformed the race into a broader choice about representation in western counties and disagreements over how power is exercised in Raleigh, as voters weigh the direction of a party now defining itself in a period of instability.
Mike Clampitt
Clampitt is seeking another term in the House after nearly a decade defined by public safety legislation, disaster response and the leverage that comes with seniority in a Republican-controlled legislature.
A native of Lower Alarka in Swain County, Clampitt first worked in law enforcement before spending nearly three decades in the fire service. He retired as a Charlotte fire captain in 2004 and later won election to the General Assembly, where he is now serving his fourth non-consecutive term.
Public safety has been the central focus of Clampitt’s legislative work, particularly during his most recent terms. He has tied that focus to both Hurricane Helene recovery and impaired driving laws, arguing that the region’s geography and emergency response challenges require aggressive state intervention.
“That was a millennial event that I don’t think any of us could have ever anticipated or would think could happen like that,” Clampitt said of Helene.
Clampitt serves on the House Select Committee on Hurricane Helene Recovery and has defended the General Assembly’s response as ongoing while sharply criticizing the way storm legislation was used to advance unrelated policy changes.
Those changes included giving the governor’s longstanding power of appointment for state and county elections boards to one of the few Republican members of the Council of State who won their race — the state’s auditor — and attempting to handcuff incoming Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson by prohibiting the AG’s office from entering into litigation the General Assembly doesn’t support.
A member of the House Freedom Caucus, Clampitt was among western lawmakers who initially opposed the bill before ultimately supporting it.
“It was very embarrassing to me that my colleagues would take advantage of a disaster such as Hurricane Helene and use it as a vehicle for some of the agendas that were being promoted, which I believe would have passed anyhow,” Clampitt said.
Clampitt has said those measures should not have been tied to disaster relief, even though he supports them as a matter of policy.
Pointing to his record of securing state funding as evidence of his effectiveness, Clampitt cited tens of millions of dollars for school construction, water and sewer infrastructure, road repairs and public facilities across the district. He has repeatedly framed that work as the product of experience and relationships built over multiple terms.
“I hope people know that I’m one of the most successful legislators that they have in the state House,” Clampitt said.
Constituent access has been a key part of that pitch, with Clampitt emphasizing direct communication and casework as central to his role. Several years ago, Clampitt put his personal cell phone number in campaign ads.
“That’s the only way you can be a good representative,” he said. “People got to be able to communicate with you, because their problem at the time is the most important issue they have going on.”
One of Clampitt’s most prominent recent legislative efforts has been the Sober Operator Act, a proposal that has stalled despite bipartisan interest. The bill would lower the legal blood alcohol limit from 0.08 to 0.05, allow roadside breath test results to be introduced in court and expand the use of continuous alcohol monitoring.
“There’s been no negative impact,” Clampitt said, pointing to states like Utah that have already adopted similar standards.
Clampitt has also linked the proposal to sobriety courts and monitored pretrial release, describing those tools as a way to reduce repeat offenses.
“It gets people disassociated from alcohol and its use. It saves marriages, it saves jobs and it saves lives,” he said.
On issues involving the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Clampitt has emphasized protecting the tribe’s economic interests, particularly when proposals surfaced to expand casino gaming elsewhere in the state. He has said additional casinos would threaten revenue that supports jobs and public services throughout Western North Carolina.
“I would not be in support of any additional casinos, to protect the tribe’s interests,” Clampitt said.
Clampitt has also addressed questions about his health during the campaign. Diagnosed last year with myelodysplastic syndrome that later progressed to acute myeloid leukemia, he has said treatment has not prevented him from carrying out his duties.
“I’d only missed five sessions,” Clampitt said, referring to voting days during his illness. Indeed, Clampitt conducted his campaign interview from a hospital bed.
As he seeks reelection, Clampitt is asking Republican primary voters to weigh continuity, seniority and legislative influence against calls for change in a district where recovery, public safety and political identity remain unsettled.
“It is a real privilege to be able to represent my particular district and the folks I have,” he said. “It’s a humbling experience. I take great pride in doing what I do for all the people in my district, regardless of political affiliation.”
Anna Ferguson
Clampitt’s campaign rests on experience, institutional leverage and a public safety record forged over multiple terms, but the race does not turn solely on seniority. It also reflects a competing argument inside the Republican electorate — that the moment demands a different kind of representation, one less rooted in Raleigh’s power structures and more closely tied to the cultural and economic realities that shape the district. That argument is embodied by Anna Ferguson.
Ferguson was born and raised in the Qualla Community between Whittier and Cherokee, where much of her family history is rooted. Her grandparents moved from Haywood County to the Boundary, and as an enrolled member of the ECBI she spent most of her life in and around Cherokee before leaving briefly and returning in 2007. She earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from North Carolina State University, then came back to Western North Carolina to work in her family’s 55-year-old electrical contracting business, where she later moved into a management role.
After years in that business, Ferguson and her sister opened a retail store in Cherokee using a family name — Bigwitch — and expanded into short-term rental management. She describes that experience as formative, exposing her to the realities of payroll, regulation and operating in a tourism-driven economy.
She was appointed to the ECBI’s planning board by Principal Chief Michel Hicks and characterizes their working relationship as good but said Hicks hasn’t endorsed anyone publicly in the race.
Issues involving the Eastern Band play a central role in Ferguson’s platform, particularly Cherokee’s gaming-dependent economy and attempts by the tribe’s wholly owned economic development arm, Kituwah LLC, to diversify it.
“Cherokee has been struggling as far as the tourism and the private-held business end of things. The casino was absolutely wonderful, a game changer,” Ferguson said. “You either were stable or you weren’t. There was no in between. Now, we have a middle class. We have an upper middle class. The casino was able to afford us that.”
Still, Ferguson would like to see more information coming out of Kituwah about projects that are in the works.
Cannabis policy is also important, especially in terms of tribal sovereignty. She has said legalization in the rest of North Carolina is inevitable and she would support it, just so long as the tribe’s early investment in cultivation and research was respected. Not long after voters in Cherokee legalized cannabis, Rep. Chuck Edwards attempted to jeopardize the tribe’s sovereignty by threatening to withhold highway funding over the legalization.
“He can not like anything he doesn’t want to like,” Ferguson said of Edwards. “That’s his right. But as far as withholding funding, no, that was overstepping.”
In line with his public safety profile, Clampitt has been an ardent opponent of cannabis, in any form, becoming legal.
The possibility of casino expansion across the state — and, in Georgia and Tennessee — continues to haunt the tribe. Ferguson is wary of such threats to the tribe’s biggest source of revenue.
“I like competition,” she said. “I think it only serves to make industry better. But as a representative of this area, I feel like I would need to — I don’t want to say protect, but ensure that there’s still jobs available, that there is still industry that that can support people and support lifestyles.”
Outside the Boundary, Ferguson sees a breakdown in legislative priorities, particularly as the region continues to recover from Hurricane Helene. She has argued that regional recovery cannot be viewed county by county and that legislative responses should better reflect the interconnected nature of the region.
Ferguson has also criticized the way disaster legislation has been handled more broadly, particularly when SB 382 became a vehicle for unrelated policy changes. While she identifies as a conservative and said she voted for Donald Trump three times, she has emphasized a willingness to disagree openly with party leaders and colleagues when she believes the process or outcome is wrong.
Signaling openness to Clampitt’s impaired-driving legislation that has stalled in the General Assembly, Ferguson stopped short of endorsing any bill sight-unseen.
In terms of broader governance issues, Ferguson criticized the legislature’s failure to pass a budget despite holding Republican majorities, calling it emblematic of a system that has drifted away from basic responsibilities.
“On federal and a state level, there need to be steps in place that prevent you from walking away without a budget,” she said, “I think that is basically stealing from taxpayers. You have taken taxpayers’ dollars, and now you’re holding them hostage because you can’t come to an agreement. That’s a very basic part of your job.”
Asked if she considers herself a “moderate” Republican, Ferguson didn’t answer directly, instead offering her own description.
“I am fiscally conservative,” she said. “Socially, I feel like government gets too involved in social issues. And there again, I like to look at things on a case-by-case basis.”
Mike Yow
As a first-time candidate presenting himself as a conservative outside the state’s legislative power structure and openly hostile to the national direction of MAGA contemporaries, Yow’s candidacy presents yet another argument from within the Republican electorate — independence from a historically unpopular president dogged by scandal but loved by a fiercely loyal base.
Raised in Stanly County, Yow moved to Jackson County in 2005 to attend Western Carolina University. He earned a bachelor’s degree in social work and later completed a master’s degree in public affairs with a concentration in nonprofit management. He subsequently returned to graduate study in social work. His professional background includes years in the mental health field, a period working in insurance and a return to community-based behavioral health services in Western North Carolina. He also performs in two well-known local rock bands, Arnold Hill and Smashing Mouths.
Yow has never held elected office, arguing that distance from Raleigh’s internal dynamics allows a representative to prioritize constituent needs over caucus politics and internal deal-making.
“At the end of the day, my goal is to be the 119th’s representative in government, not the subject matter expert of political theater,” he said. “I will represent my people, but I need my people to help me be that voice so that all North Carolinians can have a chance at a better life together.”
Yow’s comments on Hurricane Helene focus less on legislative intent and more on the lingering effects he sees across western counties. He has emphasized housing instability, access to health care and the strain placed on nonprofit service providers that operate well beyond the lifespan of emergency appropriations.
He has also argued that disaster recovery policy should account for long-term social and economic impacts, not just infrastructure repair, particularly in rural counties where recovery resources are scarce and slow to arrive.
Cannabis policy marks a clear break between Yow and the district’s incumbent. Yow supports legalization and regulation, pointing to medical use, harm reduction and economic transition as reasons to reconsider the state’s approach.
“We don’t need to demonize marijuana,” Yow said.
He has linked that position to the decline of tobacco as a revenue source in rural North Carolina and to what he views as missed opportunities for farmers and local governments.
Balancing cannabis legalization with impaired-driving legislation has been tricky. Yow has declined to offer blanket support for Clampitt’s Sober Operator Act, centering on constitutional limits and due process rather than enforcement outcomes. He has said any proposal lowering blood alcohol thresholds or expanding roadside testing should be evaluated primarily through a civil liberties lens before advancing.
National politics represent Yow’s sharpest contrast with the rest of the field. He has been explicit in rejecting Trump and has described Trump’s influence on the Republican Party as destructive, citing divisive rhetoric and erratic behavior incompatible with the principles he associates with conservatism and working-class advocacy.
“Donald Trump is a fascist,” Yow said.
Accordingly, Yow has never voted for Trump and attributes his opposition to Trump to what he describes as a pattern of exploiting populist language while advancing elite interests.
He has argued that the party’s alignment with Trump accelerated a shift away from policies that benefit middle- and working-class communities.
“That is not a party for the working class,” Yow said. “That’s a party for the billionaires.”
Accordingly, Yow’s biggest battle may be convincing Republican Primary Election voters that he’s actually a Republican. Long unaffiliated, Yow has pulled six Democratic Primary ballots (in 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2024), one Republican Primary ballot (2022) and one Green Party Primary ballot (2020).
Clampitt rejected the idea of a political litmus test.
“I don’t know the gentleman [Yow] personally, and I would not conjecture any kind of reasoning for his desire to run for office,” Clampitt said. “I think anyone that’s a qualified voter that would like to run for office should have that privilege.”
As the primary approaches, Yow is asking Republican voters to decide whether independence from party orthodoxy and rejection of Trump-era politics offer a better path forward for a district balancing recovery, economic challenges and political division.
“I believe in that true conservative value that we should not be regulated in everyday life. The people in these mountains deserve to have their basic needs met, and a lot of people are not getting that,” Yow said. “Unfortunately, that has become a political talking point in the GOP of just not taking care of basic needs, saying that it will fail this country if we do. Well, what’s the other option? Let them die?”
The winner of the Republican Primary Election will go on to face Democrat Mark Burrows, a retired economic developer from Transylvania County, in November. Clampitt defeated Burrows by nearly 11 points in 2024.
