Halifax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Race – Update #1

It’s election season and we’re going to get back into what established SouthsideCentral’s reputation… the political scene. Let’s get started by analyzing the upcoming election for the unexpired portion of former Halifax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kim White’s term…

We’ve got two challengers for the position. Mike Freshour is the current acting Commonwealth’s Attorney following Kim white’s ascension into a Circuit Court judge. His challenger is Tracy Martin, a current attorney in Halifax County. Let’s start the breakdown…

Strengths & Weaknesses:

• Freshour: Freshour’s has the advantage of incumbency, but has never faced a general election before. That marginalized his name recognition somewhat but he’s still got the “current” title to put on his signs. Freshour is a strong prosecutor and is known for his tenacious attitude in court. There have been undercurrents about his friendliness and get-along-ness with the public but there’s no truth with that in any dealings and conversations that I’ve had with him.  Freshour’s an imposing man when seen from a distance but not once you get to know him. That’s something that he’ll need to put forward as the campaign rolls on. There’s also a misguided undercurrent in the community about the high amount of suspended sentences that the court system hands out, but that’s nothing that any Commonwealth’s Attorney has any say-so about. Freshour has clear prosecutorial experience, but we note that the Commonwealth’s Attorney doesn’t really prosecute many cases themselves. This is more of an administrative and policy-making type of position. Freshour did take the county Republican party’s nomination so that will give him a small amount of guaranteed votes as well as some extra campaign cash.
• Martin: Martin is also well-known in the community and she has a very high favorable rating from everybody that I’ve talked to. She knows her way around the legal system, having practiced law in this county for a long time. As usual in these campaigns, undercurrents of falsehoods run rampant with one against Martin saying that she’s never tried a case in a courtroom… and that’s totally false. Martin’s husband is a high-ranking officer in the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office, but I’ve seen no reason why that should prevent Tracy Martin from performing the job should she win the election.  Martin chose the independent route to the election but that hasn’t seemed to affect her campaign cash situation as she is out to a large advertising lead as of now.

Both candidates are highly qualified to hold the office. There’s no doubt in my mind over that. Now let’s draw a road map that each candidate can follow to victory…

Path To Victory:

• Freshour: Freshour needs to continue pressing the issue that he is the current office-holder, although in an appointed role. Although he recused himself from the upcoming James Terry death penalty murder trial, it would have been a big boost for his campaign if a death penalty verdict had been delivered before the election. That’s not going to happen now and the trial his been delayed for competency hearings. Freshour needs to educate the voters that sentencing is something that the Commonwealth’s Attorney has no control over, and he needs to point out the conviction rate that he has accomplished so far. Freshour also needs to get a large amount of support/endorsements from the current law enforcement & legal community to show that he’s supported strongly. Finally, he needs to counter and overcome Martin’s large advertising blitz that has already started and that’s going to take lots of money.
• Martin: Martin needs to get her name recognition out to the entire county, and she’s already doing that with the large advertising blitz and by appearing at pretty much every community event. She’s smart and professional enough to not go negative in this campaign and she’s got to prove that she’s just as qualified as a sitting Commonwealth’s Attorney to take over the job. Voters want a Commonwealth’s Attorney that’s not bubbly and carefree and Martin is working on that in her speeches, smiling and happy when she’s mingling with the crowd but strong and powerful once she’s got the microphone. Endorsements and support will also be a big key to Martin’s campaign as she’s got to find influential people who are willing to go on the record to unseat a sitting officeholder.

I’ll close out the “Path To Victory” segment by pointing out the elephant in the room. We’ve got two white candidates and Halifax County has a large black voter segment. Both candidates will have to appeal to that demographic and get them to come out to vote. Martin has the edge in that outreach so far but Freshour has plenty of time to catch up in that aspect.

Final Analysis:

Both candidates are well qualified and both seem to be well-funded. Halifax County can’t go wrong with either choice and neither of them deserve to lose this election. If SouthsideCentral was making an endorsement now, we would endorse both candidates based on what’s written in the article. As of now, Martin’s got a slight edge because of her massive advertising blitz, but there’s over 2 months before the election.

As of now on the “Leans/Likely/Safe” scale , SouthsideCentral is calling this race as “Leans – Martin” because of that advertising… but that rating is likely to change as the campaign kicks into high gear.