STAR NEWS ONLINE

Ilario Pantano makes his candidacy official in 7th Congressional District

Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 1:22 by Pat Gannon

He announced shortly after his 2010 loss that he would run for Congress again in 2012, and Ilario Pantano made it official on Thursday as he filed to run for the Republican bid for U.S. House in the 7^th Congressional District.

Pantano, a former Marine who lost to U.S. Rep. Mike McIntyre, D-Lumberton, in 2010, said his campaign has 10,000 contributors and 1,000 volunteers who have made 25,000 phone calls since August from his volunteer office.

“We are amongst the social media leaders in North Carolina with 77,000 You Tube views, 6,000 followers on facebook, and 7,000 followers on Twitter,” the Pantano campaign said in a release about his filing on Thursday.

Meanwhile, U.S. Term Limits, a Virginia-based group that advocates term limits for elected officials, praised Pantano for supporting an amendment to the U.S. Constitution limiting congressional terms. Pantano has signed a pledge from the group that he would support limits of three House terms for any candidate.

“I really believe that this will change the culture in Washington,” Pantano said about term limits.

The term limits amendment bills would require a two-thirds majority vote in the House and Senate, and ratification by 38 states in order to become part of the Constitution.

Randy Crow of Kelly has also filed to run for the Republican nod in the 7^th District. State Sen. David Rouzer of Johnston County is expected to be Pantano’s primary competition for the GOP nomination.