Republicans will have May 17 primaries for state house district 63 and county commissioner; none of three school board incumbents to seek reelection; three office-holders home-free, no opponent
The last morning – actually, the last hour – of filing for political office for the 2022 elections brought out a Democratic challenger to Alamance County’s long-time Republican sheriff Terry Johnson. Johnson, first elected in 2002, had run unopposed in his last two times on the ballot, in 2018 and 2014.
Kelly T. White, 2405 Grand Oaks Boulevard, Burlington, who serves as the deputy chief of the Winston-Salem State University campus police, filed Friday after 11:00 a.m. Filing closed at 12:00 noon.
Asked by a reporter while he was at the board of elections how long he had lived in Alamance County, White refused to answer. North Carolina voting records indicate that he had resided and voted in Guilford County between 2010 to 2020, apparently moving to Alamance County sometime after the 2020 election.
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If Alamance County’s Republicans had largely monopolized the early filing season – during the two days in December before filing was suspended by the N.C. Supreme Court pending a resolution of contested congressional districts – the county’s Democrats have come out in force since the filing period reopened last Thursday.
While those congressional districts, subsequently redrawn by the Republican-controlled General Assembly, are still being contested, the N.C. Supreme Court has okayed the state senate and state house districts.
State house districts and state senate
Among other last-day challenges, Democrat Ron Osborne, 2585 Nealwood Avenue, Graham, filed against Rep. Dennis Riddell, a Republican, who represents state house district 64, which covers southern and western Alamance County.
In the 63rd district, now represented by Democrat Ricky Hurtado, a third Republican filed to oppose him.
Filing Friday was Peter Boykin, 2060 Stone Street Extension, Mebane, who joins former Republican state representative Steve Ross, who was defeated by Hurtado in 2020, who is seeking a re-match; meanwhile, Mebane resident Ed Priola is also seeking the GOP nomination to challenge Hurtado.
Ross, who had represented the 63rd district for six years (3 terms) since he was first elected in 2014 was defeated in 2020 by Democrat Ricky Hurtado. Hurtado prevailed by 477 votes, 20,584 (50.59%) to 20,107 (49.41%) for Ross.
A May 17 primary will whittle the three candidates to the one who will be on the ballot against Hurtado in the fall.
Meanwhile, Mebane city councilman Sean Ewing filed to run against Amy Scott Galey for a seat in the state senate that Galey now holds. Galey filed for reelection in December.
Ewing is a Democrat serving on the non-partisan Mebane city council; he is also second vice president of the Alamance County Democratic Party. Galey is a Republican who won the seat in 2020 after previously serving as chairman of the Alamance County board of commissioners.
The new state senate district 25, which has been approved by the N.C. Supreme Court, is now comprised of Alamance County and the northeast portion of Randolph County.
When Galey was elected in 2020, it was to the 24th district, which was then comprised of Alamance and eastern Guilford counties, which is where her opponent, J.D. Wooten, lived. Galey beat Wooten 52.43% to 47.57%.
County commissioner race
Meanwhile, in the county commissioner race, one Democrat, Anthony Pierce, filed for one of two seats on the Alamance County board of commissioners.
Pierce was a candidate in 2020, as well, but did not make it past the March primary, when Democrats chose three other candidates to carry their banner: Kristen Powers, Bob Byrd, and Dreama Caldwell. All three were defeated by their Republican opponents in November.
Pierce, now 43, was the fourth-place finisher in the March primary that year among five candidates in the Democratic primary.
The current board of county commissioners appointed Pierce to the county’s planning board last year.
Four Republicans filed for the two seats: incumbents Steve Carter, first elected in 2018, and Craig Turner, who was appointed last year to finish Galey’s term following her election to the state senate in 2020; Robert Turner; and Rudy Cartassi.
The Republicans will face off in a May 17 primary election to cut the field to the top two who will face off with Pierce in November.
District court judge
In the only 2022 race for district court judge, Bradley Reid Allen, Sr., who is the most senior among the four current district court judges and serves as the county’s chief district court judge, filed for reelection and faces no opposition.
Uncontested partisan races
In addition to Allen, who is unopposed, two incumbent Republican office-holders are also facing no opposition, either in a primary or from the other party.
Running unopposed, are: district attorney Sean Boone, who was first elected in 2018; clerk of superior court Meredith Tuck Edwards, also first elected in 2018.
Non-partisan school board: six will face off for three seats with no incumbents Since filing reopened last Thursday, more candidates lined up for ABSS school board. Three seats are on the ballot for November.
The race has six candidates: Chuck Marsh, who filed during the earlier filing period in December; former state representative and county commissioner Dan Ingle; newcomer Charles Parker of Mebane; Seneca Rogers, an unsuccessful candidate from 2020; Leonard Harrison, 3161 Fieldstone Lane, Mebane, who filed Wednesday afternoon; and Avery Wagoner of Burlington, who filed Thursday.
There were no additional candidates on Friday morning (filing ended at noon), and none of the three incumbents – Wayne Beam, Allison Gant, or Tony Rose – filed for reelection.
Rogers was the fifth-place finisher (among 11 candidates) in the school board race in 2020 when four seats were on the ballot.
