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Sunday, February 19, 2017

Multiple new candidates to vie for Davidson Mayor in 2017

One of the worst kept secrets around town became official this past week with the announcement in Business Today that Rusty Knox will run for Mayor of Davidson this November.  It was known that Knox was strongly considering a run, but with an official announcement Davidson will have its first contested mayoral election since 2011.

Interestingly, the linked article was apparently in the print edition last weekend, but it didn't get up on the web until Friday the 17th.  Word started to spread Thursday when a photo of the print article was posted to Facebook.  aShortChronicle spoke to Knox on Saturday and he says the response has been overwhelming and positive as people have heard the news.

Knox is looking to carry on the family tradition of service to the town.  As most readers will know, Rusty Knox is the son of long time former Davidson Mayor Russell Knox.  Several years ago a regular reader told aShortChronicle the last time they felt that town government truly represented the citizens was when Russell Knox was mayor.  That should be welcome news to those who cherish Davidson's small town character.

Knox has not officially filed with the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections but tells aShortChronicle that will be happening soon.

Speaking of filing for office...

In researching this post, we came across another candidate who has made it official by filing but has not officially announced.  Apparently, former Davidson Commissioner Laurie Venzon filed back in November and has been raising money ever since.

According to this Statement of Organization, "The Committee to Elect Laurie Venzon" was formed on November 1st.  The Organizational Report shows the campaign has purchased a domain name for a website.  Finally, the 2016 Year End Report filed at the end January shows Venzon has been raising money, over $2500 by the end of 2016.

Venzon was elected as Commissioner in 2007 and served through 2013 when she and her family moved to Kansas City.  They returned to Davidson last year.

Davidson politics appears to be entering uncharted territory.  It may be unprecedented to have multiple candidates vying for office this early in the election cycle.  Also, Davidson campaigns have historically been very low budget affairs with candidates often committing to raise little to no money to avoid the campaign finance paperwork.

With new candidates in the mix and significant money already being raised, 2017 is shaping up to be an eventful year.  Mayor John Woods will have quite a race on his hands, one could say it would be the Mt Everest of uphill battles, if he decides to run for reelection.

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