Press Release:
Former Republican State Senate candidates Bing Wines and Charles L. Peters issued a joint statement today endorsing fellow primary candidate James Davenport for the Republican nomination for State Senate District 44. Davenport, who received 49.92% of the vote in Tuesday’s primary election, fell just 3 votes short of winning without a run-off. He is scheduled to face Ralph Shortey in the run-off election scheduled for August 24th.
The statement issued by Wines and Peters states, “Although there is a run-off election scheduled on August 24th, we believe the Republicans of Senate District 44 indicated a clear preference during this primary election. James Davenport received 49.9% of the vote during the primary, falling a mere 3 votes short of the necessary margin to win without a run-off election.”
However, Wines and Peters go further by asking Shortey to withdraw his candidacy. According to the statement, a run-off will only hurt Republican chances of winning this seat in the fall. The statement says, “Time, effort, and resources that could be used to contend with a strong democratic candidate will be consumed during this run-off campaign. Only Ralph can prevent this by withdrawing from this race and ensuring our nominee has every advantage possible in the fall.”
The former candidates end their statement saying, “As we look forward to November, we believe James is the best candidate to serve as our next State Senator. He will be a strong leader for our conservative values and he will remain faithful and responsive to his constituents. It is for this reason we endorse James Davenport as the Republican nominee for State Senate District 44.”
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