Chuck Hannah, the Republican-turned-Democratic newcomer who announced his plans to challenge Lee County Sheriff Tracy Carter last year, ended his campaign with a Facebook statement on Wednesday:
Hannah, a Marine veteran who had served in law enforcement in Indiana and Virginia, announced (subscription required) that he would challenge Carter back in August, but immediately faced questions over both his residency and party affiliation. Initially registered as a Republican, Hannah said he wanted to run as a “non-partisan” before changing his registration to Democratic (which it remains as of this writing). Had Hannah stayed in the race, state elections law would have been required to run as a Democrat.
Hannah’s decision comes in the aftermath of an announcement by Republican Carter that he will seek a fourth term (subscription required). Siler City Police Office and Democratic Lee County Commissioner Kevin Dodson also announced this week that he will run (subscription required). Hannah’s campaign Facebook and website both seem to have been taken down, although the Gofundme page he had initially announced as a mechanism for funding the campaign remains active as of Saturday.
While Hannah’s initial statement was magnanimous toward both Carter and Dodson – he called both “seasoned elected officials” and wished them well, he followed up Saturday with a Facebook post blasting “bullies, jerks, nut jobs, and any other dishonorable people” who had apparently opposed his campaign. Filing for sheriff – as well as offices including Lee County Commissioner, Board of Education, the state legislature, and U.S. Congress, begins on Feb. 12.
Interesting how he says he will not tolerate ignorant humans who have to put others down to satisfy their own egos and agenda, and yet he does the exact same thing by making baseless/false claims against others; sounds like a hypocrite to me. He claims to be a Christian yet his actions don’t show that to be true. We dodged a bullet with this one.