Saffo weighing state Senate run (Wilmington Star News)
Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo has an important decision to make over eggnog this holiday season.
Saffo said Wednesday he’ll decide between Christmas and New Year’s – after talking it over with family members – whether he wants to try to take his political career to Raleigh.
Saffo said he’s had a lot of people approach him about the possibility of running as a Democratic candidate for New Hanover County’s seat in the N.C. Senate in 2010. Some, including some Raleigh-area politicos who Saffo declined to name, have urged him to seek the post.
Others have told him they would rather he continue to serve as mayor for two more years. He was re-elected to another term last month.
Saffo said he doesn’t think the Wilmington area gets enough of the state revenue pie and that local leaders and their counterparts in other smaller cities, such as Asheville, should band together to bang their drums loudly for state funding, particularly for transportation projects and education.
“I don’t think we get our fair share this way,” he said.
But Saffo, who was appointed to the mayor’s post in 2006 and has been re-elected twice since, said spending three or four days a week away from his family and business, Hanover Realty, would be challenging.
“It’s weighing all the options and deciding if I want to go that route and seeing where I could make the biggest impact,” he said.
Saffo said if he decides to run he would continue to lead the Wilmington City Council through his campaign, only resigning from the mayor’s post if elected.
Saffo said he planned to get family members in one room over the holidays to discuss his options.
State Sen. Julia Boseman, D-New Hanover, won’t run for re-election in 2010, setting the stage for a hotly-contested race for the seat.
Two Republicans, Wilmington attorneys Michael Lee and Thom Goolsby, have announced their candidacies, although no Democrats have announced their intentions to run.
The filing period for candidates begins Feb. 8. The primary election is May 4.
By Patrick Gannon
Patrick.Gannon@StarNewsOnline
Published: Wednesday, December 23, 2009 at 2:54 p.m.
Patrick Gannon: 343-2328
