By Ray Gronberg
gronberg@heraldsun.com; 419-6648
DURHAM -- State Rep. Winkie Wilkins, D-Person, will run for re-election unopposed this fall because Republicans in his district failed to field a candidate.
Wilkins, who is seeking his fourth term in House District 55, had been scheduled to face GOP challenger Larry Yarborough in the November general election.
But Yarborough, who like Wilkins is a Roxboro resident, withdrew, and no one from either Durham or Person county stepped in by the deadline Thursday to replace him, Durham County Board of Elections Director Mike Ashe said.
Wilkins thus joins fellow state Rep. Larry Hall, D-Durham, in the ranks of county legislators who will run opposed. Hall holds the seat in House District 29.
Durham County Republican Party Acting Chairman Tom Stark confirmed that local GOP activists couldn't find anyone to step in for Yarborough, either on their own or in consultation with their counterparts in Person County.
"It's becoming easier to recruit candidate in Durham, but it's always hard when a candidate resigns midstream in the middle of the summer to identify and get someone on board," said Stark, a local attorney.
He added that a member of the Durham party's executive committee did talk to Person County GOP activists about whether they could field a candidate. But they didn't have anyone they could put forward on short notice.
District 55 is split between the two counties, covering all of Person County and the eight northernmost precincts of Durham County.
Wilkins, a former newspaper publisher, in May survived a party primary that had him sharing the ballot with two other Democrats.
Two other Durham House delegation members, Rep. Paul Luebke and Rep. Mickey Michaux, do face GOP challengers this fall.
Luebke is running against Jason Chambers in District 30 and Michaux faces Patricia Ladd in District 31. Both districts are wholly within Durham County.
