Tea Party vs. GOP Establishment...Battle Comes to Mecklenburg's Doorstep

A couple of interesting events have happened in the past few days which may signal a looming battle within the Republican party between the establishment GOP and Tea Party grassroots activists.  What makes this more interesting for us here in Mecklenburg is that it would be right on our doorstep.

Early this week rumors began to swirl that the GOP establishment is seeking a candidate to primary conservative legislator Rep Larry Pittman of Cabarrus County.  This comes on the heels of last week's brouhaha between Rep Pittman and Speaker Tillis over comments Pittman made at a Cabarrus County meeting of the We The People grass roots activist group.

Primaries come as nothing new to Pittman.  He survived a primary challenge last election cycle - beating challenger Jay White by 51.46% to 48.54%.

Making matters worse, the rumors swirling have the potential challenger being from Mecklenburg County,  moving to Cabarrus specifically to challenge Pittman.  Those rumors generated this response on Twitter from one connected conservative activist in Cabarrus...

While I prefer to not use the RINO label, this gives you some sense of what's waiting for someone crossing county lines to challenge Pittman.  Pittman also enjoys support from Tea Party types outside of Cabarrus who would likely join the fight in the event he receives a primary challenge.  He has raised his profile by taking the lead on some of the strongly Pro 2nd Amendment legislation working its way through the General Assembly.  During the most recent Mecklenburg GOP convention, a resolution was debated at length specifically to show support for Pittman's efforts.  There will likely be many volunteers crossing county lines to support Pittman along with any potential challenger against him.

The second event that could have local impact is something that actually won't be happening.

The upcoming NCGOP convention in June will be held in Charlotte.  Local grassroots activist Jack Brosch has thrown his hat in the ring for NCGOP Chair against Claude Pope - the hand-picked candidate of the Raleigh establishment.  A third candidate Mattie Lawson, a Tea Party leader from the Outer Banks, had briefly also joined the contest, but on Wednesday put out this announcement:

This well-considered decision shows a maturity of the Tea Party movement to not repeatedly make the same mistake and dilute support by running multiple candidates for the same contest.  It also shows an understanding that concentrating forces on a confined battlefield - such as a Convention floor - allows for a much higher likelihood of success.

Convention elections are all about who shows up.

Talk of a primary against Larry Pittman when the convention is in his backyard and his issues are what currently animates the party faithful could very well be what drives more "conservatives" to show up in Charlotte this June and create some unexpected surprises for the State GOP.