From Staff Reports

The Buncombe County Democrats selected Drew Ball to take Amanda Edwards’ District 3 seat on the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners during a special election held on Dec. 18 at the party headquarters in East Asheville.

Edwards’ seat became vacant after she was elected the commissioners’ chair in the Nov. 5 general election.

“State law says that the party of the vacating board member gets to pick the replacement – in this case, a Democrat in District 3,” Asheville television station WLOS (News 13) reported. (All of the Buncombe  commissioners are Democrats.)

Ball, 41, is  “an environmental advocate, volunteer firefighter and community organizer,” the Asheville Citizen Times noted in a Dec. 20 story.

In the Dec. 18 special election, Ball beat 10 other candidates to claim the seat. About 125 party members were eligible to vote.

Following his triumph, Ball will serve the remainder of Edwards’ four-year term, which began in 2022. 

“We had 10 candidates step up that were eager to serve our community,” Ball told the ACT on Dec. 19. “I think that just speaks to how eager everybody is in this community to roll up their sleeves and get to work and service, given how many challenges we have in front of us.”

Meanwhile, Kristen Robinson, first vice chair of the Buncombe County Democrats,  told News 13 the following:

“We’re one month past the November election and, to see this many happy Buncombe Democrats ready to keep rocking and rolling, is very exciting to see and brings me a lot of hope for 2025.”

Among the opinions expressed in News 13’s Comment Bubble that appeared after its story on Ball’s selection was the following:

• Normal — “Unelected (didn’t even run) Democrat lobbyist now represents voters that didn’t elect him. Starting to notice that votes don’t matter to Democrats. Also noticing that’s how the CPC chooses leader. What a coincidence. All Hail the Great Leader!”

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