White suit. White hat. Cigar between his teeth.
Stony Rushing, a county commissioner in Union County, N.C., is the spitting image of J.D. Hogg, the despotic but also bumbling county commissioner in the hit television series “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
J.D. as in Jefferson Davis, the president of the Confederate States of America.
Most elected officials would spurn the comparison to Boss Hogg, especially those eyeing a seat in Congress. But not this local politician and gun range owner, who dressed as the grifter for Halloween last year, on the eve of the November election that would solidify his local following and set him up to seek higher office.
The 47-year-old Republican has been tipped to take over for Mark Harris, the Republican nominee in a North Carolina congressional contest roiled by revelations that his campaign had financed a scheme to tamper with absentee ballots. Citing health problems, the evangelical pastor from Charlotte said Tuesday he would not run in an upcoming do-over election, endorsing Rushing and calling the county commissioner an ally on “so many of the issues that concern us, including the issue of life, our national security, and religious freedom.”