Democrat Josh Stein, Libertarian Shannon Bray file for governor

(The Center Square) – Gubernatorial candidates led the filers on Tuesday in North Carolina, with less than three days remaining to set the ballots for the 2024 election cycle.

This was the final day candidates who had filed could withdraw to reclaim their filing fee, get their names removed from the ballot, and potentially enter another race.

Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, following up his January announcement, filed for governor. Also filing was Libertarian Shannon Bray.

Filing closes at noon on Friday. Democrats headed to the March 5 gubernatorial primary include Chrelle Booker, Mike Morgan and Marcus Williams in addition to Stein. Republicans filed so far include Dale Folwell, the state treasurer, and Bill Graham.

The following are other notable filings for Tuesday:

• U.S. House District 1: Libertarian Tom Bailey.

• U.S. House District 10: Democrat Ralph Scott.

• U.S. House District 11: Democrat Caleb Rudow.

• Lieutenant governor: Republican Allen Mashburn. This makes a six-candidate field for the primary, joining Rivera Douthit, Deanna Ballard, Jeffrey Elmore, Hal Weatherman and Marlenis Hernandez Novoa.

• Agriculture commissioner: Republican Colby Hammonds.

• Insurance commissioner: Democrat Natasha Marcus. She’s a state senator, and her filing was expected to lead to the withdrawal of David Wheeler from the primary race. However, at the 3:14 p.m. update, he remained in the race. He posted on social media later in the day, “I’m in.”

• State House of Representatives: Among the filings Wednesday drawing modest attention were two in District 44 that will produce a Libertarian primary between Angel Yaklin and Christina Aragues. Each is from Fayetteville.

North Carolinians will elect 14 members to the U.S. House of Representatives for two-year terms. The U.S. Senate seats are not on the ballot again until 2026 (Sen. Thom Tillis) and 2028 (Sen. Ted Budd).

All 170 seats in the General Assembly (two-year terms) will be on the ballot, as are the 10 Council of State offices (four-year terms). This includes the governor; lieutenant governor; attorney general; commissioners of agriculture and insurance; the secretaries of state and labor; auditor; treasurer; and superintendent of public instruction.

States that join North Carolina in holding primaries for both parties on Super Tuesday are Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia. Iowa, which has the Republican caucus on Jan. 15, has the Democratic primary on March 5.