Former House Minority Leader Jonathan Rhyne hasn't been a state lawmaker for 15 years, but come January, he'll return to the legislature without anyone laying a glove on him.

Rhyne, a Lincolnton lawyer, is one of 56 state legislative candidates who face no opposition in the primary or the general election. Fourteen of those candidates are in the Senate, and 42 are in the House.

Friday's close of the filing period for legislative races also shows that 77 seats in the legislature have already been decided when it comes to party control. The Democrats already have 33 of the 61 seats needed to keep their hold on the House, while Republicans have sewn up 11 of the 26 seats needed to take over the Senate.

"This is again another year where we don't have enough people running for office," said Bob Phillips, executive director of Common Cause North Carolina. "Hopefully there will be more attention to that and more support for reforms."

Among the ideas Phillips supports for encouraging more candidates to run are an independent commission to create legislative districts, shortening the length of legislative sessions, increasing lawmakers' salaries and public financing of legislative races.

In some cases, the lack of opposition is a reflection of the strong incumbents who hold the seats. No one is challenging, for example, Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, or House Speaker Joe Hackney, an Orange County Democrat.

But no challengers are emerging in districts where incumbents have little experience or have gotten into trouble.

Rep. Phil Frye, a Mitchell County Republican, recently apologized after being pulled over for driving while impaired. He has no opposition.

"We did look at that one really hard," said House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman, a Lexington Democrat. "We just couldn't get anyone to come forward."

Democrats have long controlled the Senate and currently hold a 31-19 edge in seats. The House turned Republican in 1995 for four years and was split 60-60 for the 2003 and 2004 sessions but is now firmly in the Democrats' grip, with a 68-52 edge.

House Minority Leader Paul Stam, an Apex Republican, said the party has fielded more candidates than in the 2006 election, when party infighting left several competitive districts without a Republican competitor. In the Senate, Minority Leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, said the GOP has candidates running in competitive districts, save for the one held by state Sen. Charlie Albertson, a Duplin County Democrat.

So far, proposals to encourage more candidates have yet to gain traction in the legislature.

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