BY MILES LAYTON

WILLIAMSTON — Republican Party faithful gathered to elect the First Congressional District’s leadership at the GOP convention on Saturday at the Martin County Schools Innovation Campus.  

Many familiar faces from county Republican delegations were among the 189 delegates who attended the convention — perhaps the largest in the district’s history. NC State Auditor Dave Boliek gave the keynote speech at the event that included state Senators Norm Sanderson and Buck Newton along with many elected officials who lead a GOP majority in many of the First District’s 22 counties.   

The first part of this story gives a brief snapshot of the convention; however, folks might want to continue reading to see what happened and why.

Though it was a large convention that was very newsworthy, particularly because of the contentious campaigns being fought over who would be elected as First District Chair, the Albemarle Observer was the only media to attend the convention. That should come as no surprise because local mainstream media outlets are often philosophically opposed to giving fair treatment or covering political events that don’t echo their worldview. 

Harvey West was re-elected to a fourth term as First District Chair by acclamation. His opponent, Bobbi Foley, was disqualified for using a name different from the one that appears on her voter registration, Barbara Walker. More on that in a minute.  

Ed Stiles was re-elected as 1st Vice Chair with John Spruill being re-elected as 2nd Vice Chair and Brent Heath won 3rd Vice Chair. Lynda West was re-elected Secretary, and Mary Kay Best was asked by Harvey West to serve as Assistant Secretary. Tuesday Baum Sauer was elected as Treasurer.  

West vs Foley, aka Barbara Walker

During the past several weeks, there was a heated race between Harvey West and Bobbi Foley, aka Barbara Walker.  

Rather than publish some of the dirty laundry that’s flowed across social media recently that would give the Democrats/media (same thing) something to jabber jaw about while hypocritically ignoring their own sins, let’s focus on what happened and what was said at the convention.  

West ran unopposed to win a fourth term as chairman. 

How? Well, it all comes down to the name on her identification.  

Foley didn’t explain why Walker — the last name listed on her NC driver’s license and voter registration card — is different than the name she has been running under as a candidate — an issue that didn’t seem to come to light until well … it was suddenly front and center as she was being nominated to run for chairman on Saturday.   

Convention Chairman AJ Daoud, a former police officer, said it’s against the law to have a name that’s different than what is on a person’s driver’s license and other forms of identification. 

Daoud asked Foley what her name was on her driver’s license.

“Bobbi, what does it say on your driver’s license? As a (former) police officer, that’s what I would have to accept as credentialed legal information,” he said.

She answered, “Walker.” Foley’s voter registration too was checked via an online state Board of Elections directory — Walker again.  

Sandy Smith, who formerly ran in the Republican primary as a candidate for the First Congressional District in 2024, offered a spirited defense of Foley’s candidacy for chairman.  

“Where in the rules does it say she has to go by her legal name to be nominated as district chair or a state chair or any chair in our Republican Party?” she asked.  

Since the contested presidential election of 2020, and certainly before that too, Republicans have branded themselves as the party of voter integrity.  

“And I’ll tell you, Sandy, as a police officer and as the deadline’s coming due for a real identification and we’re a party of a election integrity, it should have been addressed, or it should have been put in writing ages ago,” Daoud said. “We can’t do this. And I’m just saying, because I don’t know what the internal scuff is, but I’m being serious with you. We’re friends, OK? We can’t bring this back-and-forth stuff during convention time. This should have been addressed way long ago in writing by somebody.”
 
Smith interjected, “There was no requirement of being done in writing ahead of time.”

Daoud answered, “I’m doing my police officer legal side. She’s not presented any proof whatsoever right now to me, independent of being chair of this organization, to prove that she is who she is, because her driver’s license and her voter registration shows a different name, which in some jurisdictions could land her in jail for a misdemeanor.”

Smith asked, “What are you recognizing as forms of identity. Are we talking social media pages? Are we talking …”
 
Daoud broke in, “I’m going to stop you right now. I’m going by what is the legal definition. And we have plenty of lawyers in this room. If it’s not on her legal form of identification, if it’s not on our voter registration and it’s not on her driver’s license, then we are dealing with an alias name. Alias names cannot be used for real time entities. It cannot.”  

He continued, “You can’t use that name to buy real estate, property or a car. You have to use what’s on your driver’s license.”

Smith tried to continue, but Daoud asserted his prerogative as chair, telling her, “You’re out of order at this point. You’re out of order at this point.”

Daoud tried to underscore his point about Foley. 

“Legally, if she was to or I was to call the Williamston policeman to come in here, the first thing you would do is ask for that driver’s license. We looked at the voter registration. That’s why I asked for the driver’s license. If Bobbi Foley was on that driver’s license, I would say that’s an acceptable form that she could use that name. But at this point, we’re dealing with a name that is not legally registered on the driver’s license, on your voter registration. Even if Bobbi or some form of it was in there, it’s not even close to what she’s got.”

Smith interjected, “Bobbi is short for Barbara, first of all. You can actually run for office using your nickname.”

Daoud explained, “That is a different story. When you go to register. When you went to register. No, when I went to register to run for office and when you went to register, you showed proof of identification, did you not? On the forms that you put down, they put your legal name down.”

Smith broke in, “When I registered to run for office, there was an actual form to register with. Here in the First District, there is no formal form. So she does not have that opportunity.”

Daoud continued, “I guarantee that when she goes to vote, she has to show that driver’s license, that ballot’s going to be in the driver’s license name. OK? There is no proof, and I’m telling you this independently, there is no legal proof, Sandy, at this point, that she is legally using that name. If I was still on the police department, she could be technically held for misdemeanor for having a different name on a different ID than what she’s using. That is the law. That is not an argument.”

Well, you see how it went — long-story-short, Harvey West, being the only name on the ballot, was re-elected as chairman. For a video of West speaking with the Albemarle Observer, see our YouTube site.  

Foley/Walker seeks 1st Vice Chair

Running as Barbara Walker instead of as Bobbi Foley so that her name could be put forward as a candidate, Walker ran against Ed Stiles for 1st Vice Chairperson. 

Let’s give Foley credit for sharing/explaining her passion for her party.  

“I want to address the elephant in the room right now… I don’t shy away from difficult issues and I definitely don’t make excuses. I tell the truth. 
So I will address the instigators, the Internet trolls and the relentless harassment of a post I did last fall. Last October, I was extremely frustrated that the Republicans were abandoning the Robinson campaign and other Republican nominees. I know you can feel that — you are Republicans too.”

Lingering after effects from the congressional race — “What I saw was Laurie (Buckhout) wiping her campaign page clean of any references to Robinson (GOP gubernatorial candidate). Whether you like him or not, he was our candidate to keep the leftist extremists from being our governor. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have vented on Facebook.”

Foley continued, “I continued to work the polls and I handed out the conservative ballot. What’s important is that Lori and I communicated last month, and we cleared the air. She said I was classy, and she even wished me luck in my run. I asked her and she even gave me approval to announce her new job at the Northampton convention. If you have any questions, you can ask her where you can ask me, but I have been a conservative my entire life.”

She continued, “I have showed you before, General (Mike) Flynn wrote a letter. He didn’t just endorse me, he wrote a letter. He knew how many times I have worked for Donald Trump in every single one of his elections. I have also gone at the Senate and the Congress and I have sat there and lobbied for every single one of his Supreme Court nominees.”

A conservative voice — “The only thing I want to tell you also, I have been a conservative my whole life and I’m here to work relentlessly with absolute nonstop energy to make sure we turn this district red. It will not happen organically. We need to hurry up and we need to work everything. Did you know how great would it be if in the event, if we had an event thing across the entire district, we would know what everybody was doing and we could help them in everything they do. I would be absolutely honored to be your first vice chair and I humbly ask for your vote.”

Here’s what Stiles said during his campaign speech — how much the First District’s leadership team has accomplished — a bank account, more delegates to the convention, more money raised and better electoral results. Let’s lead on that string of successes.  

“I’ll point out too is that we were lucky if we could get 25 delegates from the First Congressional District. So here we are with almost 190,” he said. “The other thing I would point out too is not only have we been successful in raising money and bringing active participants in this district in the First Congressional District as our team, but we also had the electoral results to prove it. In 2022, something happened that had never happened before. Not only did we pick up seats in the North Carolina Senate and the North Carolina House, but our Republican nominee, Ted Budd, won in 2022 for US Senate. That had never happened before, at least not in our memories.”
 
Stiles continued, “In 2024, a presidential election year. Think about this — no Republican candidate for president or any Council of State office had ever won in the First Congressional District until last year. Donald Trump won the First Congressional District, as did Dave Boliek (NC Auditor) and Brad Briner (NC Treasurer). And I can assure you that if you reelect our team, you will not have to worry about whether our team members are loyal to our Republican candidates because we will be.”  

A few other takeaways from the convention

Leading local elected officeholders gave a shout-out to the ongoing work of the GOP faithful.   

Martin County Board of Education member Jimbo Shriver said, “I would like to give you a little history about Martin County. This is the first time in history, to the best of my knowledge, that Martin County has three Republican county commissioners. And it’s the first time that we have three Republicans on the Board of Education. Even though we are outnumbered three to one from the ‘demonoids’, we’ve got like 16,000 registered voters and only 3,000 Republicans, but every time a Republican that runs in Martin County since 2016 has won.”  

Martin County Commissioner Joe Ayers said, “As of November, we now have three out of five Republican commissioners. Afraid to say — some of you know, some of you may not — but our board’s been a dumpster fire for four years, but as of December 3rd, we got this thing turned around. We got pedal to the metal. We did not have a county manager for over a year — a lack of leadership — so we hired a county manager this past Wednesday night. We’re doing a lot of good things. We’re trying to bring our hospital back to life. We got a lot of work to do in the government, so guys, don’t take your foot off your gas. Let’s roll.”  

Halifax County Commissioner Sammy Web said, “I’m the first black Republican elected since Reconstruction and second Republican in about 10 years in a heavily Democratic county. However, the Republican party in that county, we have created a movement.” 

Washington County Commissioner John Spruill said the political makeup of the county commission has changed.

“We have two Republicans that sit on our board — I’m not going to say the bad word (Democrat) — so that is change. We’ve also lost 15% of our population in Washington County in the last 20 years, and it’s because of that other leadership. So we’re trying to change that in Washington County as is so many other counties within the First District. So we’re working hard there to make a change, and we’re going to do it together with everybody here in this room.”

Sen. Sanderson, a conservative Republican, spoke in no uncertain words about Governor Josh Stein, a progressive Democrat. Sanderson said a stronger majority is needed in the General Assembly to muzzle Stein’s policies and agenda.    

“I’ve served with Josh Stein for about eight years in the Senate. And I tell you what, he has got to have some muzzles put on him, because if he don’t, he will take North Carolina in a really bad direction.”

Sanderson spoke to what would happen if the US Congress changes hands.   

“Whether we know it or not, our president is up for re-election in 2026. Because if the US House and the US Congress changes hands, he will face impeachment after impeachment after impeachment, and they will not rest until they remove him from office. And so this is almost like another presidential election in 2026,” he said. “So, thank you for being here. Thank you for all the work that you do. Thank you for taking an interest and coming out on a Saturday morning. Because this is, like has been said, this is the grassroots. This is where it all starts, right here. 
And if we can’t come out of this assembly in a unison, united, then united we stand. United we win.” 

Speaking of Stein, state Senator Buck Newton spoke on behalf of GOP state leadership and underscored Sanderson’s point about Stein.    

“I served with him (Stein) in the Senate. He is a true believer in the hardcore left-wing calls. And he puts a mask on every time he gets on TV,” Newton said. “And when he was Attorney General, he ran around acting like he was a highway patrolman, but none of his policies would say that. But he looked good on TV, didn’t he, Norman? 

Newton continued, “And Stein’s going to do the same thing to us in the governor’s mansion. He is a lot smarter than Roy Cooper. A lot smarter and a lot more dangerous. And if we don’t get super majorities back, if we don’t elect our Supreme Court justices, if we don’t keep, when we get to the four-year term, if we don’t keep people like Dave Bullock, if we don’t elect a new Republican attorney general, we’re going to be in for a world of hurt. All the good things that we’ve been doing that we’ve been hearing about in this room, they’re going to come undone. So I’m asking you, let’s keep the team in place that’s winning, that’s been building the blocks to win these races.”

Last word goes to NC Auditor Dave Boliek.  

“Let me start with who, like me, is excited that we have President Donald J. Trump. One of the honors of my life was to be endorsed by President Trump for this office. And so I don’t take that endorsement lightly and I don’t take the work that we’re doing now and in the future likely as well. 

“Before I get started, I do want to tell you that I’m working very closely with Commissioner Luke Farley, our Labor Commissioner, and Treasurer Brad Briner. And they wanted me to bring greetings from them to say hello on their behalf. Let me now say to each one of you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

“But I certainly would rather be up here also with a Republican governor, a Republican lieutenant governor, a Republican attorney general, a Republican secretary of state, and a Republican secretary of public instruction. Yes. That being said, give me an oar. I’m in the rowboat with you. The work to get those additional seats statewide, as well as the work in the midterm 2026 starts here and it starts today.  Can I get an amen on that?” 

Boliek continued, “While the liberals heads are spinning off in Washington at the work that our president is doing, we have to gain the momentum, grab it and move forward. That is what we’re called to do. So let me say, when I say grab an oar and great, there we go.”

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