Longtime Charlotte TV news anchor and reporter Vince Coakley will be in Salisbury today to announce he’s a candidate for Mel Watt’s former 12th Congressional District seat.
A Republican who’s now the host of the online conservative Revolution Radio based in Charlotte, Coakley was scheduled to begin a six-county swing at 10:30 this morning, with an announcement and speech at each stop.
Coakley will be at the Rowan County Administration Building, 130 W. Innes St., at 2 p.m., with a speech at 2:10 p.m., according to a news release from his campaign.
He’s scheduled to be in Kannapolis at 3:10 p.m., stopping at the Veterans Park gazebo at 100 North Main St.
Coakley spent 18 years as a reporter and anchor for WSOC-TV. He left the station in 2010.
He and his wife Debbie live in Charlotte with their four children.
The 12th Congressional District stretches from Greensboro to Charlotte, along Interstate 85.
Watt, a Charlotte attorney and Democrat, had represented the district since it was created in 1993 as a majority-minority district. Watt resigned earlier this year to take over the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Despite protests over its residents going unrepresented for months, Gov. Pat McCrory has said a primary and election to fill the seats will take place in May and November, on the regular dates for this year’s elections.