GOP News Includes Balkcom Meet and Great

HAYESVILLE, N.C. — Republican congressional candidate Jennifer Balkcom will meet voters on the Hayesville town square next week, the same week the Clay County Republican Party opens its October meeting with a 2028 gubernatorial hopeful and a new headquarters announcement.

Balkcom, the Republican nominee for North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District and a state representative from Henderson County, is scheduled to appear Wednesday, Oct. 14, from 2:15 to 3:45 p.m. in front of Hayesville Town Hall. The visit is an informal meet-and-greet, according to the Clay County GOP.

The party’s regular monthly meeting follows the next evening. It is set for Thursday, Oct. 15, at the Clay County Community Center, second-floor meeting room, 25 Riverside Circle — listed by the party as 25 Riverside Drive — in Hayesville. Republican and unaffiliated voters are invited. Light refreshments, snacks and desserts begin at 6:30 p.m., with the business meeting at 7 p.m. Attendees are asked to bring a covered-dish snack or dessert to share.

Clay GOP Chair June West said the guest speaker will be Robert Burns, mayor of Monroe, who has announced he is a Republican candidate for governor in 2028. Local GOP candidates have also been invited to speak.

West also announced the opening of a Clay GOP headquarters at 1786 Highway 64 West in Hayesville, at Pope Storage, just past the Jacky Jones Ford dealership. Further details are expected at the October meeting.

The party is also reminding voters that early voting in North Carolina begins Thursday, Oct. 15, and runs through 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31. Organizers asked residents to encourage friends and family to finish the ballot, including the judicial races.

Balkcom was selected by district Republicans in August as the party’s nominee after U.S. Rep. Chuck Edwards withdrew from the race. She faces Democrat Jamie Ager and other candidates in the Nov. 3 general election.