By Kirk Ross, Staff Writer
Saying she wants to see through some of the efforts she began at the start of the last session, state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird announced Wednesday that she will run again for re-election.
“This last term has been a challenge for the state budget, just like it has for families throughout the state, but I have been able to provide the leadership to write and guide legislation benefiting every person in the district and in the state,†Kinnaird said in an announcement emailed on Wednesday morning.
Kinnaird, who is serving her seventh term in the Senate, saw her seniority rise over the past couple of months.
Sen. Tony Rand, the powerful majority leader who with Senate President Pro Tem Mark Basnight has led the body for more than two decades, announced last fall he would step down.
Also leaving the Senate are David Hoyle, a conservative Democrat from Gaston County, and R.C. Soles from Columbus County, who faces a criminal investigation.
Hoyle, who has held onto an increasingly Republican district, often sparred with Kinnaird over economic issues. Although the legislature has no formal rules on seniority, during last year’s session Kinnaird ranked 11th in overall seniority and eighth among her fellow Democrats. The departures of Hoyle, Rand and Soles moves her three notches up the list.
Two years ago, Kinnaird said she wanted to retire. She decided against it after failing to recruit a woman to run for her seat. Her decision rankled then-County Commissioner Moses Carey, who had announced he would run for the seat. The two engaged in a cordial but competitive primary in which Kinnaird won with 65 percent of the vote. She went on to easily defeat Republican Greg Bass in the fall.
In addition to working on budget issues, Kinnaird said if returned to Raleigh she wants to work on alternative energy and energy efficiency, improve the work of state agencies for families and youth, ensure fairness in proposals for tax reform and help complete a statewide criminal-justice network to track and prevent the inadvertent release of dangerous criminals.
Kinnaird serves as co-chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee on Justice and Public Safety and co-chair of the Senate Mental Health and Youth Services committee. She is vice chair of the Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources committees and serves on the Senate Finance, Health Care and Judiciary I committees. She is a member of the Select Committee on Economic Recovery, the State Energy Policy Council, the Environmental Review Commission and the State Advisory Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Senate District 23 includes all of Orange and Person counties.