Today We Made It Official

I have been planning to run for congress since last November 13th. I made the decision after taking a few months to consider the implications of the campaign and what it would cost in time and effort. However everything until now has been like preseason. Today we made it official. We started the day in Windsor at the Board of Elections office for Bertie County. There we picked up the forms needed and had Shirley Davenport, Bertie County's Director of Elections (a super nice lady who does her job impressively) validate that we were registered in Bertie County. She also notarized the form listing the name that I would use on the ballot, "Dean Stephens".




Next Bud Lee and I drove to Raleigh to file the forms. Bud offered to ride along because it was such a long drive for such a short stay.




When we arrived it was already after 12:00 and luckily there was only one other candiate ahead of me in the line. That candidate was Joe Johnson, who is running for Supernintendent of Public Instruction. I met Joe last fall at the Al-Pam Conservative Club Christmas Party.




The young lady who was handling candidate filings was very helpful and agreed to pose for a picture of me handing over the filing fee.




Next I had to get the Campaign Finance Instructions, and validate that I had received them. 10 minutes in Raleigh and we were all done. Since we were well ahead of schedule, Bud and I decided to drop by the campaign offices of Fred Smith who is running for Governor and say hello to couple of friends. Jonathan Hill, Fred's Campaign manager was there and we talked a little politics.




After that, Bud and I headed home. Bud is the Fire Chief at Perrytown and he was committed to an evening training session, so being ahead of schedule meant he would have some time before he had to attend. I really appreciated his riding along. It would have been a boring ride otherwise. Thanks Bud.