Wayne County: Home to House Majority Leader John Bell, EPA Chief Michael Regan, and Mt. Olive Pickles.
Southeast of Raleigh and about halfway between the capital city and New Bern (see Craven County in last week’s highlight) sits Wayne County, named after Revolutionary War General “Mad Anthony.” Wayne. It’s home to State House Majority Leader John Bell, EPA Chief Michael Regan, Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, and Wilber’s BBQ. The county seat of Goldsboro sits along U.S. 70, and the town of Mt. Olive, at the southern edge of the county, is home to the famous pickle company as well as longtime state legislator Louis Pate, who produced one of the more memorable positive political ads in recent memory. Politically, Wayne County has shifted toward the GOP over the past decade, but not as dramatically as many Eastern NC counties (it’s 3%-5% more Republican than it was a decade ago). The county has just 180 more voters than it did in February of 2013, but it has lost more than 8,000 Democrats, added almost 2,000 Republicans and added more than 6,000 Unaffiliated voters. The county has also lost more than 2,000 black voters and nearly 2,800 white voters, and added 1,536 Hispanic voters over that decade.