Monitoring the Watauga County Commission

Persister Reports from Monitoring Meetings

Background on the gerrymandering of the Watauga County Commission

For reasons that can only be inferred, NC Senator Ralph Hise (Senate District 47 covering Alleghany, Ashe, Avery, Caldwell, Haywood, Madison, Mitchell, Watauga, and Yancey) proposed legislation to redistrict the Watauga County Commission, a gerrymandered approach that essentially allowed the Republican Party of North Carolina to decide who would govern Watauga County rather than the voters of Watauga County.  Please note that Watauga County is made up of almost equal parts Republicans, Democrats, and Unaffiliated.

Here is a link to the information on Senate Bill 759 from the state government website ncleg.gov:

https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookUp/2023/S759

The first election affected by this redistricting took place in Fall 2024, which also included a referendum offered by the then democratically-elected board of commissioners to allow Watauga County voters to choose their own approach to redistricting. That referendum passed with an overwhelming majority in the 2024 fall election, which may support future actions to address the gerrymandering.

The newly gerrymandered board produced three seats won by Republicans, who on Dec 2, 2024 appointed two more Republicans to fill the seats from districts gerrymandered to pack in Democratic votes (conveniently left empty for two years under NC Sen. Hise's legislation). According to Watauga Watch Blog, the two appointees actually live in the same districts as filled seats, so no one who lives in the empty districts is on the new Board of County Commissioners.

Given the harm Ralph Hise and the Republican Party inflicted upon the voters of Watauga County, the Blowing Rock Persisters will be monitoring the work of this Republican-selected board. We encourage you to attend board meetings--you don't have to speak. They need to know that they are being watched by friends and neighbors who they apparently did not believe deserved the right to vote.

Below is the information currently provided by the Watauga County website. We are listing their names since most of us won't know anything about them because gerrymandering meant they did not have to try to win our votes. While we hope that they can rise to the occasion to serve our county and not solely those with power or influence in the Republican Party, we condemn their willingness to take power in this manner. Any effort to reduce the voters' ability to consent to be governed undermines democracy and fosters a breeding ground for corruption (well demonstrated by what is currently taking place in the executive branch of the U.S. government). 

The Gerrymandered Watauga County Board of Commissioners 2025

Braxton Eggers, Chairman

Braxton.eggers@watgov.org

Todd Castle

todd.castle@watgov.org

Emily Greene (appointed to fill a seat for a district where she does not live)

Emily.greene@watgov.org

Tim Hodges (appointed to fill a seat for a district where he does not live)

Tim.hodges@watgov.org

Ronnie Marsh

Ronnie.marsh@watgov.org

The Board of Commissioners in Watauga County holds meetings on the first and third Tuesday of every month at 5:30 pm in the Commissioners' Board Room at the Watauga County Administration Building.

Meeting agendas can be found at this link:

https://www.wataugacounty.org/App_Pages/Dept/BOC/agendas.aspx

Minutes of previous meetings are posted here:

https://www.wataugacounty.org/App_Pages/Dept/BOC/minutes.aspx



Sign up for our weekly emails using our comment form below.

Name

Email *

Message *

Follow us on Bluesky

Hi Bluesky! Our group, the Blowing Rock Persisters, started in Jan. 2017 out of concern for our democracy and restarted in Jan. 2025 for the same reason. We share ideas for collective action and resources with those in our community and surrounding areas, and we hope to continue that work here.

— Blowing Rock Persisters (@blowingrockpersist.bsky.social) March 3, 2025 at 8:21 PM