A county commissioner, a mayor, and a self-described native mountain woman are lined up to take on state Sen. Joe Sam Queen, a Democrat from Haywood County.

Queen has represented Senate District 47, a Republican leaning district in the mountains and foothills, since 2004. He won his last bid for re-election by a 54 percent to 46 percent margin, and the results were even closer four years ago. In statewide races, though, voters opt for the GOP.

That’s stirred enough interest among Republicans to create a three-way primary. Neither McDowell County Commissioner Andy Webb nor Spruce Pine Mayor Ralph Hise has anything negative to say about their Republican primary opponent Tamera Frank’s stance on the issues, but each says his experience makes him the better man for the job.

Webb, who also owns a small business selling candy, pointed to 11 years of local government experience. As county commissioner, he’s “managed and approved budgets.” As an economic development commissioner, he has traveled to several states to help “recruit companies,” offering them incentives to set up shop in McDowell County.

Webb said he’s challenged North Carolina floodplain maps and fought the Environmental Management Commission on placing buffers in mountain streams.

Hise, who also works as a community college administrator, said his experience as Mayor has given him “insight into what small communities and towns are doing.” He noted his master’s degree in higher education and his work as a statistician for the Census Bureau.

Hise also believes his age, 33, and his having young children give him insight many of the retirees in the senate don’t have.

“I can bring a perspective of raising a family and working in the community,” Hise said.

Frank, a “career Air Force wife,” describes her credentials on her website. “I’ve done time in family business and the factory,” she says. “I’ve been a waitress and a writer. I have planted trees and built local hiking trails. I’ve been a journalist, an airline agent, and a volunteer … I’ve even served burgers … and none of these am I ashamed of.”

Frank also worked as an adoption social worker. She said she learned the value of hard work growing up on a farm, picking up potatoes and planting tobacco. She claims she knows “what it’s like to empty the change jar so the check won’t bounce.”

“Very honestly, I probably have walked a mile in your shoes,” Frank writes.

On the issues

“I very much support both Tamera Frank and Andy Webb … On most issues we’re all very much in agreement,” said Ralph Hise.

According to their websites, it’s true – on most issues they agree. All three want fewer business regulations and lower taxes. They’re also against buffer zones around mountain streams and support private development of the adjacent land. They all support the right of individuals and companies to put windmills and solar panels anywhere they want.

But the candidates do part company on education. Both Webb and Hise place public education at the top of their priority lists, while education is listed much lower on Frank’s prirority list.

Webb is a trustee at McDowell Community College. His wife is an elementary school principal. He also worked as a substitute teacher for a short time. Hise is a planning officer at Mayland Community College.

Both say education is key in creating economic opportunity.

“If we’re going to grow and develop and move forward as a region, we have to have greater education opportunities for individuals,” Hise said. “Extending charter schools, giving more options, more technical training, expanding community colleges to prepare people for jobs that are coming in the next decade.”

Frank calls herself a strong supporter of home-schooling and charter schools, but higher placement priorities include reducing — if not eliminating — income taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes and food taxes; restoring private property rights; and making it easier to carry a concealed handgun.

Tea Party supporter

All three candidates praised the grassroots Tea Party movement that has targeted government debt and wasteful spending.

“It’s refreshing that people are engaged and are taking a stand in support of our constitution and our personal freedoms,” Webb said. “They keep me on my toes. Those folks are inquisitive. They do their homework. They are passionate, like me, so I should not disrespect that at all.”

Hise says he’s been “very impressed” with the tea partiers. “I think it’s a group of individuals who are passionate and very upset about increasing government invasion into their lives,” he said.

Tea parties tie in well with Frank’s message, and she says she loves the movement.

“It is a movement of we the people, a revolution of power coming back to all of us … We have too many politicians and too few patriots running our country. We have too much resume and too little guts and integrity,” she said.

Sara Burrows is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.