Although there are still more registered Democrats than Republicans in Haywood County, 19,403 to 12,517, the 2012 election showed local voters mirroring a state trend that put Republicans squarely in charge.

Republican messages of less taxes, smaller government, education reform and second amendment  rights clearly resonated with many of the county’s 11,059 unaffiliated voters, as well.

From Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney, who garnered  nearly 56 percent of the vote in the county and GOP gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory, who won with the support of nearly 58 percent of the county’s voters, Republicans fared well down the line, picking up a legislative seat with the election of Michele Presnell of Burnsville and giving Franklin Sen. Jim Davis a second term.

Democratic ...