the Assembly: “There was never any doubt Charles Ray Peterson would be a Democrat. His parents, grandparents—everyone he knew in Bladen County, really—were Democrats.
Peterson, 70, served on the Bladen County school board for 12 years and has been a county commissioner for more than two decades. “When I got involved in politics,” he said, “you almost had to be a Democrat to win.”
But not anymore. Peterson changed his party affiliation to Republican in 2017, joining a growing number of people in rural North Carolina to eschew the Democratic Party. When he cast his ballot this year, he voted for a straight Republican ticket….“It just seems the Democrats have gone too far to the left with this ‘woke’ agenda,” Peterson said.
That was the central message from Wayne Schaeffer, chairman of the Bladen County Republican Party, as he rallied voters through social media posts, email blasts, and face-to-face conversations on the street and at church.
“I beat the drum on making people understand that the broader issue at play here is agenda,” Schaeffer said. “If you don’t get out and vote for a straight Republican agenda, you’re allowing the Democratic Party to install an agenda which will be contrary to your own conservative values.””