Caleb Rudow to Fill Out NC Rep. Fisher’s Term

The Buncombe County Democratic Party executive committee on Jan. 6 appointed Caleb Rudow to fill out the term of Susan Fisher to the 114th District seat in the NC State House.

Fisher, who had been in office for nearly 18 years, chose to step down with one year remaining in her term, effective January 31. She was originally appointed to the seat in 2004 after it was left empty when Martin Nesbitt was appointed to a Senate seat in the middle of his term. She noted at the time of her retirement announcement that having the opportunity to learn about the workings of the legislature had given her some experience as an incumbent before running for a full term, and she hoped a similar benefit would accrue to whoever was named to the seat.

Background in business, Peace Corps, public policy

Rudow is the son of an Asheville attorney, Marc Rudow, and his wife Deborah Miles, is the founder and long-time Executive Director of the UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education. A 2005 graduate of Asheville High School, Rudow majored in philosophy at UNC-Chapel Hill and later earned an MA in Public Policy from the LBJ School of Government at UT-Austin (TX).

Rudow learned Spanish under Señora Castro at Asheville High and then spent a full semester in Costa Rica—after several other trips to Central America, he expects that his fluency in Spanish will be useful in representing District 114, which has a Latinx population of 8.8% of its 90,000 residents. He also spent three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zambia, in south central Africa, where he lived for two years in the Eastern Province village of Mukambwe, and one year in the capital, Lusaka, working at the intersection of agriculture, forestry, and climate change.

Rudow’s business experience includes several years managing and opening Fifth Season stores that specialize in hydroponics, home brewing, and organic gardening (including opening the brewery section at the Asheville store). More recently he worked as a research and data analyst at Open Data Watch in Washington, DC, where he conducted research on open data funding, patterns of data use, and technical issues around open data policy.

A second-generation activist

At age 35, and with expertise in data research, a degree in public policy, and experience in global issues as well as business, he hopes to be both an active, engaged representative and a voice for a younger generation in the NC General Assembly. The new representative-designate has a lifetime background in progressive and racial justice issues. His mother founded the UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education, which researched overlooked history in WNC, promoted equity and inclusion in schools and businesses, and mounted many exhibits at the YMI Cultural Center before finding a permanent home at UNC Asheville.

As The Urban News wrote in a 2013 article, high school students spent a summer researching the enslavement records from the Buncombe County Register of Deeds, which is now a statewide project (UNC Greensboro’s People Not Property). In 2013, the YMI hosted “With All Deliberate Speed,” a CDE exhibit originally developed in 2005 and researched by UNC Asheville students Jamal Mullen, Paige Shy, Klanesha Thomas, and Kendra Sylver, which highlighted the desegregation non-violent activism of the Asheville Student Committee for Racial Equality (ASCORE).

Rudow will face election to a full term next November.