02-08-2025
Candidates announced for Madison County's three municipal elections
MARSHALL - Madison County's three townships will have their municipal elections in November.
After the state candidacy filing deadline closed July 18, the names are in. Nearly all of the candidates in the town's elections for mayor and town boards are incumbents, per the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
The candidates
The county's three incumbent mayors will all seek reelection, as Hot Springs Mayor Abby Norton (D), Marshall Mayor Aaron Haynie (D) and Mars Hill Mayor John Chandler (D) all submitted their names before the July 18 statewide candidacy filing deadline.
In Hot Springs, longtime Town Board member Jeanne Caldwell Gentry announced in May she would not be seeking reelection.
"I feel like 10 years is a long time to put some public service in," Gentry said. "We started off rough, but we had a lot of success. We have some great people I'm hoping are going to run."
Gentry said she wanted to make the new board's transition go as smoothly as possible.
"When a new board comes on, regardless if it's one, two or three people new, it is stressful," Gentry said. "You're getting thrown a lot of things at you. Typically, you take over without any kind of anything. I would like to see that be different this time. As I'm going out, I would like to be able to help with that transition."
With one vacant position on the three-member Hot Springs Town Board, which includes Dan Myers and Wendy Stancil, Robin Smith (R) has announced her candidacy. Smith was defeated in the 2023 election, in which she was one of five candidates vying for three seats on the Town Board. She was recently appointed to the Madison County Board of Health.
In a 2023 candidate outline, Smith said she had worked in management, administration and customer service.
On the Marshall Town Board, there will be two seats up for reelection. Two candidates, incumbent board members Billie Jean Haynie (D) and Christiaan Ramsey (U) have announced their bids for reelection.
On the Mars Hill Town Board, there will be one vacancy among the four-year terms. Incumbent Nicholas Honeycutt (D) filed for reelection. Honeycutt is a school administrator.
The general election will take place Nov. 4.
More: Hot Springs' Gentry announces she won't be running for reelection in November
More: Hot Springs Town Board candidates speak on most important issues ahead of election
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Candidates announced for Madison County's three municipal elections
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