By Karissa Minn
kminn@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — At least one seat on the Rowan County Board of Commissioners will be wide open for the 2012 election.
Commissioner Carl Ford has decided to run for a seat in the state House, he said Monday night. And Commissioner Raymond Coltrain won’t say whether or not he’s running for re-election.
Ford announced his candidacy for N.C. House District 76 at a meeting of the local Republican Party. Rep. Fred Steen, who currently represents the district, had filed to run for Congress just hours before.
Tuesday morning, Ford said he sees the state office as an opportunity to better serve the county and begin to serve another. The 76th district now includes southeastern Rowan and northeastern Cabarrus County.
“After talking to many people and praying about this decision, I felt like it was the right thing to do,” he said. “Not that there isn’t more to do on the county commission — there is and always will be for whoever’s elected.”
According to the county elections office website, Ford had not filed by the end of the day Tuesday. Once he does, he will give up the chance to run as an incumbent county commissioner this year.
The second board seat up for grabs in 2012 belongs to Coltrain, who said Monday he isn’t commenting to the press yet about his plans.
Two days into North Carolina’s filing period, four candidates have filed already to run for those two spots. Craig Pierce, Gus Andrews and Joel Johnson are entering the race on the Republican side, and Carrol Crawford is running as a Democrat.
Filing began at noon Monday and will end at noon on Feb. 29.
Contact reporter Karissa Minn at 704-797-4222.
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