Republican Michael Speciale of Craven County is one of three candidates pushing for victory in state House District 3.
The other two candidates are Republican Wayne Langston of Chocowinity and Democrat Robert Cayton of Aurora.
Speciale and Langston will vie for their party’s nomination in the primary election on May 8.
In an interview with the Daily News, Speciale said he had met Langston.
“Seems like a very nice guy,” he said, adding, “I’m running for an office, I’m not running against an individual.”
District 3 takes in a swath of eastern Craven County, most of Beaufort County south of the Pamlico River and all of Pamlico County.
Rep. Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico, of District 3 isn’t going for re-election. Sanderson has told other area media he plans to run for the District 2 Senate slot held by retiring Sen. Jean Preston, R-Carteret.
In 2004 and 2006, Speciale ran for House against then-Rep. Alice Graham Underhill, a Democrat.
He was unable to defeat the incumbent, but finished the 2006 race with 8,568 votes to Underhill’s 10,772 votes.
“They were pretty close races,” he said.
Asked whether he thinks his chances of winning are better this time around, he replied, “I do because it’s an open seat. … I think we’ve got a good message and I’m a conservative, so I think we stand a good chance.”
Speciale’s campaign website says he is a former chairman of the Craven County Republican Party and is a retired Marine. He is a graduate of basic law-enforcement training and a former American Red Cross first-aid instructor, the website reads.
“I am a Christian, a conservative, and a patriot,” he’s quoted as saying in a first-person biography on the website.
Speciale resides with his wife, Hazel, in an unincorporated community between New Bern and Havelock. The couple have two children and seven grandchildren.
He pointed out he’s a native of Chicago, but has chosen to live in eastern North Carolina.
“You don’t really get a choice where you’re born — I was born in Chicago — but you do get a choice where you live,” he said.