(The Center Square) – Vagabond candidacy by Floridian Margot Dupre will end short of a U.S. Senate seat from North Carolina, though more forcefully than her bid in Idaho.
The State Board of Elections on Wednesday said a win by Dupre in the Republican primary on March 3 would be vacated – Republicans would fill the spot if it happened – following a 3-1 vote by the board on valid voter registration. Dupre listed a Charlotte address matching a UPS Store and was challenged by Fayetteville’s Jerry Reinoehl.
Dupre’s candidacy was a longshot in a race for the seat occupied by Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. He has declined to seek a third term. The primary could set spending records and is expected to have a November ballot matching Democrat Roy Cooper against Republican Michael Whatley and Libertarian Shannon Bray.
Absentee by mail voting began the 51-day window to the primary on Jan. 12. Voter registration ends Friday, and early in-person voting begins Thursday of next week. And Dupre’s name is on the ballots.
Other candidates in the field Republican primary are Don Brown, Michele Morrow, Thomas Johnson, Richard Dansie and Elizabeth Temple. Only Dupre and Temple did not have listings with the Federal Elections Commission by the Jan. 31 deadline for year-end 2025 campaign finance reports.
In the challenge, Reinhoehl said Dupre has residence in Ocala, Fla., where she is registered to vote in Marion County and did so in an April 1 primary. Dupre told board members her North Carolina residency is in a “glamper,” meaning campers, hotel rooms and Airbnb’s.
She also confirmed she filed for Idaho’s 1st Congressional District candidate in 2024. And she said she voted for herself by mail from Florida.
Bob Rucho, Stacey “Four” Eggers and Jeff Carmon were board members in agreement with the challenge. Siobhan Millen was the lone vote against. Chairman Francis De Luca had an excused absence.
