Avon Resident Ed Danko Announces Candidacy for Dare County Commissioner

On January 11, Republican Ed Danko announced his candidacy for the November 2018 election for the at-large seat of Dare County Commissioner.

If elected, it would be the first time in recent memory that the Board of Commissioners would have two representatives from Hatteras Island – The last time it occurred was from 1961 through 1968.

“Even though [Commissioner] Danny Couch is a Democrat, and I am a Republican, I think we could work together well for the benefit of Hatteras Island,” said Danko.

Danko, a fiscally conservative Republican, has pledged never to vote to raise taxes in Dare County, noting in a press release that he would also work to repeal the recent 9.3% property tax increase.

“You’re not going to generate revenue by increasing taxes,” said Danko. “The more money people have in their pockets, the more money they have to spend. That’s how you grow an economy.”

Danko is also a strong supporter of the Outer Banks fishing industry and an advocate for year-round dredging of the inlets. “I want to see our watermen working, and I want to see that [fishing] economy here in Dare County, and not someplace else,” he said. “We need to keep those waterways open, we need to keep them navigable, and we need to keep them safe.”

“The economic benefit for Dare County far outweighs the cost of dredging.”

Danko is on the Board of Directors of the Roanoke Island Historical Association (The Lost Colony) and the Board of Directors for both the Avon Property Owners’ Association and Kinnakeet Shores Property Owners’ Association. He is a firefighter with the Avon Volunteer Fire Department and an active member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. Danko is also a member of the Dare County GOP Executive Board and serves as the Public Relations Director for the GOP 3rd Congressional District.

Danko retired in Avon after 40 years of working in television news as a producer, which included working with three major networks – NBC, CBS and CNN. Part of his career was spent in Washington, DC reporting from the White House, and covering three presidents. He also covered Capitol Hill, the State Department and the Pentagon.  At CBS, he was the editor of “Face the Nation with Lesley Stahl” and the Pentagon Editor for the “CBS Evening News.”

Though Danko spent a career travelling the country and the world, he has had close ties with Hatteras Island for more than 40 years.  

He first fell in love with the Outer Banks in 1977 while serving in the U.S. Navy and assigned to lead a Navy Combat Camera crew to film the initial NOAA dives on the wreckage of the USS Monitor off the coast of Cape Hatteras.

“When I came down here for the first time, I just fell in love with Hatteras Island and the Outer Banks,” he said. “The beach was magnificent, the ocean was beautiful, and the people were so friendly.”

“…Since then, I have been here covering every hurricane that has hit the Outer Banks as a journalist – and I also came here on vacation, too – and I always knew that this would be the place I would retire to.”

Today, Danko lives in Avon with his wife, Beverly. They have four rescue dogs – Sebastian, Tilly, Izzy and Albert, and a recently adopted stray cat named Dallas.

For more information on Danko, as well as his background and positions, visit https://eddanko.com/.