Allran wins ‘greatest victory’
BY ANDREW MACKIE
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
NEWTON
Austin Allran won his 22nd election Tuesday in what he called his greatest victory.
The 11-term state senator defeated Catawba County Board of Commissioners Chairwoman Kitty Barnes by a vote of 10,116 to 5,357 Allran garnered nearly 66 percent of the votes.
Allran called Barnes his stiffest challenger given her name recognition in Catawba County and her ability to raise money.
“I’m very pleased,” Allran said from his home in northwest Hickory where he watched the election results with friends and family. They say if you break 60 percent you’ve got a landslide. I guess I’ve got an avalanche.
Attempts to reach Barnes late Tuesday night were unsuccessful.
Allran thinks the vote means voters like his representation over Barnes
The campaign became contentious when Barnes ran ads pointing out Allran’s support of hotel room occupancy taxes that she said broke his pledge not to support tax increases. The ads offended Allran.
She ran a really dirty campaign, he said. A lot of it was gutter politics. The voters saw through that. I’ve represented them a long time and they didn’t fall for it.
Allran, 56, was elected to the General Assembly in 1980. There is no Democratic candidate, so he is assured of his 15th term.
Allran hopes to continue to build a more conservative coalition in the General Assembly. He urges Catawba County to regain its independent, can-do spirit.
“The ideals that made Catawba County great were private enterprise, not a dependency on government,” he said.
