RALEIGH (AP) — A recent three-time candidate for statewide office in North Carolina and a retired physician added their names Tuesday to the list of Republican candidates seeking Democrat Kay Hagan’s U.S. Senate seat this year.
Lexington attorney Jim Snyder turned in his candidacy papers for the Republican nomination at the State Board of Elections, followed later by Dr. Edward Kryn of Clayton — bringing the number of official GOP hopefuls in the race to six. State House Speaker Thom Tillis, who is also running, hasn’t yet filed. The deadline is noon Friday.
Although Kryn had announced his candidacy earlier, Snyder’s entry was unexpected.
Snyder served briefly in the General Assembly in the early 1970s and ran for the U.S. Senate in 2002, losing in the primary to eventual general election victor Elizabeth Dole. He won the GOP primary for lieutenant governor in 2004 but ultimately lost to Democrat Beverly Perdue. He ran for the same job in 2008 but finished second in the primary.
Snyder said in an interview he got in the race because other candidates haven’t been talking about past trade agreements that led to job closings across the state and the banking crisis at the start of the past recession. A social conservative, Snyder said abortion isn’t being discussed enough, either.
Kryn is originally from Canada and became an American citizen nine years ago.
He said previously that he believes his medical background working in the U.S. and Canada gives him unique expertise in the race.
Also Tuesday, Gov. Pat McCrory’s recent choice to head a new state panel to hear unresolved unemployment benefit appeals filed to run for the state Supreme Court. Jeanette Doran, who worked for years at the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law, decided to challenge Associate Justice Robin Hudson for an eight-year term.
As previously announced, Court of Appeals Judge Sam Ervin IV of Morganton also filed Tuesday to run again for the Supreme Court. Ervin lost to Associate Justice Paul Newby in 2012. Ervin is now running for the seat held by Associate Justice Mark Martin, who is running instead for chief justice. Court of Appeals Judge Bob Hunter of Morehead City is also running for Martin’s current seat.