Apr 27 2008
Echoles Withdraw from State Senate Race
DURHAM — Durham Democrat Ryan O’Neal Echoles has withdrawn from the state Senate District 20 race, saying late Monday that he’d “taken a look at the landscape” and decided “right now is not the right time” to take on established local political interests.
Echoles’ withdrawal leaves incumbent state Sen. Floyd B. McKissick Jr. unopposed in the May 6 Democratic primary.
It’s pretty odd for a challenger to drop out of the race a week before the election. After reading the whole article I kind of get the impression that perhaps Echoles knew his chances of winning were nil and decided just to bow out gracefully than suffer a major loss.
He has a point, though, too. It’s tough to go against the political machine. You basically have to be very well known or be independently wealthy to be able to finance the campaign you need to overcome the entrenched politicos.
