District Attorney’s race still unclear

Posted on by David Forbes

Incumbent District Attorney Ron Moore. (File photo by Jonathan Welch)

With about a week left to file, no one has stepped into the Buncombe County District Attorney’s race, including incumbent Ron Moore — leaving the shape of the race for one of the county’s most important offices unclear.

Moore, who’s occupied the office for 24 years, hasn’t returned requests for comment on whether he’ll run for a seventh term.

Asked if Moore was running for re-election, or if any other contenders planned to step into the race, Buncombe County Democratic Party Chair Kathy Sinclair responded, “I don’t have any update or information I can offer” on the D.A.‘s race.

Buncombe County Republican Party Chair Henry Mitchell tells Xpress he doesn’t know of any GOP candidates looking to take the office either.

“It doesn’t look at this point like we’ve got anybody running for district attorney, or at least we don’t know of any Republicans that are talking about running,” Mitchell says. He added that the party is primarily concentrating on the state legislature and Buncombe County Board of Commissioners races this year.

In previous elections, Moore has claimed he’s made the office more efficient and saved taxpayers millions. He’s also attracted no shortage of controversy, such as facing a 2012 lawsuit from an alliance of local media, including Xpress after he refused to release audits revealing the extent of missing guns, drugs and money from the Asheville Police Department’s evidence room.

In the last D.A.‘s election, in 2010, Moore faced a challenge from local defense attorney Bridgette Odom and retained his seat with 54 percent of the vote to Odom’s 46 percent. Filing this year closes at noon on Friday, Feb. 28.

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One thought on “District Attorney’s race still unclear”

  1. mtndow

    Ron is cool but it’s time for him to go. 24 years and it seems he has had a lock on this job to the extent that most folks do not realize this job is an elected position. Ron’s term spans the years of some the most corrupt law enforcement conducted by our sheriffs and police chiefs. Lacking a qualified candidate to run against our D.A. I will continue to support Ron. At least until the Feds catch up to him. Break the cycle.Vote.

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