Watauga voters will choose commissioners differently this year

This will be the first election in Watauga County where the board of commissioners will be chosen under new guidelines.

Democrats currently hold a 3-2 advantage on the Watauga board but that could change after redistricting by the GOP-run legislature.

Currently, commissioners live in assigned districts but are elected at large, meaning Watauga voters can choose their commissioners whether they live in the district or not. This year, commissioners will be chosen only by residents in those individual districts under a bill approved last year.

Watauga is politically split with Democrats most concentrated in the area around Appalachian State University, surrounded by rural areas that lean Republican.

Chris Cooper, a political scientist at Western Carolina University, says the legislature has filed an increasing number of local bills like this in recent years. And whether people agree or not usually comes down to partisan lines.

"If you're Republican in Watauga County, it makes sense, right? You think that you're getting more representation, and you are, in a lot of ways," he says. "It's just a matter of which side of the fence you're sitting on.”

That’s not the end of it, though. There’s a ballot measure that, if approved by county voters, would divide Watauga into three equal districts, and with commissioners chosen by voters in those districts, but two countywide at-large seats would also be included. 

Three incumbents have filed for the three seats on the ballot this year. Republican Braxton Eggers faces unaffiliated candidate Jon Council. Democrat Charlie Wallin faces a challenge from Republican Ronnie Marsh, and Republican Todd Castle will face Democrat Sue Sweeting.

It’s a different situation in Buncombe, the only county in the state whose board of commissioners’ lines mirror those of the state House districts. 

Chris Cooper says Republican mapmakers may have figured out a way to make gains through redistricting. 

“There's just a small number of red areas in Buncombe County that are left, and the new maps essentially piece all those red areas together into one district that leans slightly towards the Republican Party,” he says.

Cooper says when it comes to redistricting, Congressional races get most of the attention, but these smaller local efforts deserve scrutiny because they can have a major impact on communities.