CHARLOTTE (AP) ó North Carolina Republicans on Saturday elected their incumbent chairwoman to lead the party for the next two years.
Linda Daves, 61, of Charlotte, defeated challenger Marcus Kindley, a former Guilford County Republican chairman, with two-thirds of the vote.
She pledged to help Republicans win local races in 2007 and legislative seats in next year’s elections.
“We’re going to force the Democrats to look over their shoulder and say, ‘Man, they’re coming after me!’ ” Daves told the nearly 900 delegates at the Charlotte Convention Center.
Daves was the party’s vice chairwoman until Ferrell Blount stepped down in November. The party’s executive committee chose her in December to serve out the rest of Blount’s unexpired term after North Carolina Sens. Elizabeth Dole and Richard Burr tried to postpone the elections to seek another candidate.
The GOP lost seven legislative seats last November despite scandals in the Democratic-controllled General Assembly. Republicans lost a congressional seat and haven’t won a governor’s race since 1988.