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Cornelius mayor Jeff Tarte will face off against Huntersville resident John Aneralla in Tuesday’s GOP runoff election, which will decide the N.C. Senate District 41 race.
The winner of the Republican runoff wins the seat because no Democrat ran.
The May primary for Senate District 41 was the most crowded in Mecklenburg, as five Republicans battled to win the newly created seat, which runs from the Iredell County line to Matthews.
During that election, Tarte came in first with 6,423 votes, or 37.6 percent. Aneralla came in second with 6,193 votes, or 36.3 percent.
Tarte is an executive with the consulting firm Applied Revenue Analytics. He has served as mayor of the town of Cornelius since 2007. He also served as a Mecklenburg Parks & Recreation Department commissioner for the past eight years.
During his campaign, Tarte has said his top three platform issues are tax reform, transportation and infrastructure, and education, in that order.
“I want to try to dial down the rhetoric in Raleigh,” said Tarte. “I hope people have a sense that I’m a pragmatic person. I will take results over ideology any day, and I have an ability to communicate across the aisle.”
Aneralla started working in the financial services industry in 1986 in Mecklenburg County, first starting as a consultant for E.F. Hutton.
By 2004, he had established Bulldog Asset Management, an investment advisory firm.
Since 2001, Aneralla has held several leadership positions in the Mecklenburg County Republican Party. He also served as the Republican 9th congressional district chairman from 2007 to 2010.
Aneralla said his top platform issues this election are improving the economy, education and energy.
“Steadfastness and consistency and knowing where someone stands are really what people are looking for these days,” he said. “They want to know that if they’re going to elect that person, that person will continue to remain that same person when they’re in a higher elected office. I am definitely that person.”
Aneralla, the past chair of the Mecklenburg GOP, lost a bid for the state Senate in 2010 against Democratic incumbent Malcolm Graham.
