Darren Jackson will replace departing state Rep. Linda Coleman in District 39, which includes parts of eastern Wake County.
Democratic party officials in the districta total of 30 attendedvoted last night on who should fill the seat. Coleman is joining the Perdue administration as director of the Office of State Personnel.
Three candidates were nominated from the floor: Jackson; Wake County Commissioner Lindy Brown; and Don Mial, an unsuccessful candidate for county commissioner in ’06. Jackson won an outright majority on the first ballot. The ballots were secret, and the precise count wasn’t announced.
Party members said Mial and Brown, both African-Americans, may have blunted each other’s potential appeal. Jackson, meanwhile, thought he benefited from being the one candidate who was born in and has always lived in the Knightdale-Wendell-Zebulon area that is the heart of the district. Jackson has run twice previously for the seat.
Jackson’s selection is in the form of a recommendation to the governor, who is expected to make his appointment official within the next two weeks.
Read more about Jackson in a previous post on the Indy‘s blog, Triangulator.
