Nelia Hamby of Kannapolis will be among the 2,380 delegates who will determine one-half of this year’s presidential ballot during the Republican National Convention in September.
Hamby, an 18-year-old sophomore attending UNC Asheville, was recently elected to represent the 8th District Republican Party as a delegate at the Minnesota convention.
Her undertaking defies stereotypes that members of the Republican Party are getting close to retirement age, said Chris McCartan, chairman of the Cabarrus County GOP. She has been a mainstay at GOP functions.
“She’s bright and up-to-date with current events and partisan politics,” McCartan said. “She’s very much the new face of the Republican Party.”
Hamby has been heavily involved in the Republican Party for a long time, partly because she’s the daughter of District Court Judge William Hamby Jr. She attended her first GOP meeting before her first birthday.
“I was a very well-behaved child so my parents dragged me to pretty much everything, including Republican meetings,” she said. “I’m a conservative person. It’s been a place I’ve grown up and known and have been able to participate pretty much my whole life.”
She used youth to her advantage in campaigning for one of three delegate positions in North Carolina’s 8th District. She said the Republican Party needed youth representation to counter that of the Democratic Party.
“There’s a place in the Republican Party for youth, too,” she said. “You don’t have to be young and on one side.”
1 Comment
Brainwashed from an early age…cool.