RALEIGH – More Democrats look to join a competitive primary for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat.
State Sen. Jeff Jackson and former state Sen. Erica Smith have both announced campaigns; but the field is far from closed: former NASA astronaut Joan Higginbotham is poised to launch a campaign.
Higginbotham, the third black woman to go into space, is “seriously, seriously” considering entering the race and is “doing all the things that candidates who are looking to run for office are doing,” according to Josh Morrow, co-founder and executive director of 314 Action, the Associated Press reported last week.
She is married to longtime Charlotte City Councilman James “Smuggie” Mitchell, who resigned from the council earlier this year over concerns of ethics after taking a new job with a prominent Charlotte construction company.
Higginboth has never run for office, but her campaign would draw parallels to Mark Kelly, an astronaut who was elected to the U.S. Senate in Arizona in 2020.
Morrow told the AP his group would look to raise and spend several million dollars on her behalf.
