The ballots that area residents have cast during the state’s ongoing early voting period won’t be officially tallied until after the polls close this coming Tuesday.
But the results are already trickling in from the so-called “money race” that determines how much cash each candidate has amassed to get their message across to the voters. Although the latest data on these campaign war chests is still filtering in, it already appears that year’s race for Alamance County’s sheriff is shaping up to be one of the costliest on record.
Earlier this week, many state and local candidates were required to submit their latest financial disclosure reports to either North Carolina’s state board of elections or its county-level equivalent.
Under both state and federal election law, candidates whose campaign expenditures exceed a certain threshold are required to file regular disclosure reports about their receipts and disbursements. Election law allows candidates to lump smaller donations together in these reports, although it requires the names and addresses of donors who give in excess of $100 to be listed along with their occupations and the identities of their employers.
The state board of elections expected candidates to file the most recent of these disclosures by Tuesday, October 27. These so-called third quarter reports covered the three-and-a-half-month period that ran from July 1 through October 17.
Due to technological limitations at both the state and local levels, relatively few of these reports were publicly available by the time this newspaper went to press on Wednesday afternoon. In fact, the state hadn’t posted any third quarter data for Alamance County’s six legislative candidates or for the local office seekers who have sent their paperwork to the state. Meanwhile, the county’s election office had uploaded data for a smattering of candidates who submitted their third quarter reports ahead of the state’s deadline.
The most prominent of these early bird filers has been Shannon Long, the unaffiliated contender for Alamance County sheriff who is challenging the incumbent Republican Terry S. Johnson for the position he’s held since 2002. According to this report, which the candidate submitted on Friday, Long has raised a total of $67,920.43 toward his campaign – putting him well ahead of Johnson’s previous challenger, Kelly White, who garnered $43,645 toward his own unsuccessful bid to become sheriff in 2022.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the county’s election office hadn’t posted any third quarter data for Johnson himself. The incumbent sheriff has also submitted some of his financial disclosure reports to the state. In this case, however, election officials in Raleigh have mistakenly updated Johnson’s file with the third quarter report for Brandon Johnson, who is running unopposed for the office of sheriff in Surry County. By Wednesday afternoon, the state had neither corrected this blunder nor posted any third quarter data for the Alamance County incumbent.
The absence of any fresh data for Terry Johnson makes any apples-to-apples comparison with Long all but impossible. All the same, the county’s election office has posted a second quarter report for the incumbent that showed he had amassed $316,068.84 by June 30, 2026. As a base of comparison, Johnson had taken in a relatively modest $246,654.93 by the end of the second quarter in 2022, while his total haul for that year’s campaign against White reached a cumulative sum of $341,619.43.
Shannon Long
Regardless of what may appear in Terry Johnson’s latest third quarter report, the incumbent sheriff seems to have considerable advantage over Long on the financial front. It’s worth noting, however, that Johnson was already refilling his coffers after his electoral victory in 2022. He also wound up spending much of this cash on this year’s Republican primary, which saw him fend off two challengers from within the ranks of his own party. Long, for his part, didn’t officially join the sheriff’s race until after the party primaries on March 3 of this year. In order to get on the general election ballot as an unaffiliated candidate, the former Orange County deputy had to collect the signatures of more than 4,700 Alamance County voters by the date of the primaries. It wasn’t until a week after the primaries, that the county’s board of elections certified Long’s petition.
Even so, Long’s financial disclosures reveal that he was already collecting donations for his campaign by the tail end of 2025, and he went into the third quarter of this year having already raised nearly $37,000. According to the candidate’s third quarter report, Long took in another $31,097.98 between July 1 and October 17, bringing his total for the election cycle to $67,920.43.
Long’s third quarter receipts include $1,624 in individual donations that were small enough to report in the aggregate. He also received another $2,332.48 from various political committees, including $200 from the campaign of Burlington councilmember Dejuana Bigelow, $500 from the Democratic Women of Alamance County, and $1,632.48, in kind, from the Alamance County Democratic Party in the form of print media and billboards.
Long has also received $27,141.22 from about 90 individuals who are identified by name in his report. These donors include a number of Democratic office seekers, including state house hopeful Ian Baltutis, aspiring county commissioner Ramona Allen, and Scott Drorbaugh, who is running for Alamance County’s D.A. Also included among Long’s contributors are municipal councilmembers such as Katherine Burkholder of Mebane and Steve Exum of Elon.
The following is a full list of the individuals who appear in Long’s third quarter report:
Tiwanna Adams, 716 Voyager Place, Durham, real estate broker with Real Estate by Design, $100 ($215 for the campaign); Raheem Aleem, 2154 West Front Street Burlington, not employed, $226 ($526 for the campaign); Ramona Allen, 2711 White Oak Drive, Burlington, property manager for Multifamily Select, $80; Dwight Artis, 1237 Feros Street, Gibsonville, HHI director at Resources for Seniors, $56; Myranda Baldwin, 1034 Broadlands Way, Graham, accounts payable supervisor for the State Employees Credit Union, $300;
Ian Baltutis, 702 West Davis Street, Burlington, inventor with the Vibration Solution, $100; Maurice Bass, 2440 Millbrook Drive, Haw River, barber with Barberz Beyond Measure, $500 ($1,052 for the campaign); Satina Bass, 109 Darke Drive, Mebane, senior business systems analyst for Duke Health, $1,060; Schquita Battle, 4168 Northrop Drive, Haw River, manager of Early Years, LLC, $20 ($2,425 for the campaign); Tanya Bolton, 1635 Palmer Drive, Graham, risk manager for Duke University Hospital, $141;
Pamela Bradsher, 522 Mise Road, Yanceyville, not employed, $75; Broderick Bragg, 1801 Lawrence Road, Hillsborough, store manager for Auto Zone, $100; Stephanie Braxton, 446 Oakland Drive, Burlington, owner of Sursy, $520.25 in kind (for event space); Karen Bryant, 102 West Brown Street, Mebane, administrative specialist at UNC-Chapel Hill, $56; Katherine Burkholder, 103 Westminster Court, Mebane, realtor for the Diamond Realty Group, $100;
Tenesha Carter, 3 Eastcrest Court, Durham, associate executive vice president for the State Employees Credit Union, $100; Joel Clark, 608 Piedmont Street, Reidsville, CEO of I Live in Expectation, LLC, $75 ($175 for the campaign); Vanessa Coble, 124 West Crescent Square Drive, Graham, president of Seniors Medical Supply, $250; Scott Cronin, 6409 Seta Drive, Lanham, Maryland, campaign staffer for the NC Democratic Party, $52; Angela Davis, 692 Fairway Drive, Mebane, office manager for Kenyon’s Meat Market, $30 ($108 for the campaign);
Gina Dickerson, 205 East Memorial Drive, No. 113, Hinesville, Georgia, mobile support for Cohen-esery, $200; Scott Drorbaugh, 8055 Hinshaw Shop Road, Liberty, prosecutor for the state of North Carolina, $75; Levar Eubanks, 3020 Bermuda Bay Lane, No. 108, Mebane, instructor at the Beyond Measure Barbering Institute, $100 ($340 for the campaign); Nathaniel Eubanks, 6111 Paylor Street, Mebane, not employed, $125; Briana Evans, 2127 Holland Avenue, Burlington, Supervisor at PHE, Inc., $102 ($260 for the campaign);
Maurice Evans, 4918 Devane Court, High Point, not employed, $1,000; Steve Exum, 115 Avenue of Trees, Elon, photographer at Exum Photography, $100; George Fitzpatrick, 3801 Wade Coble Drive, Apartment 504, Burlington, not employed, $100; Reginald Fountain, 6201 Oakview Court, Hillsborough, not employed, $52; Ralph France, 305 Sutton Place, Mebane, not employed, $100 ($252 for the campaign);
Chris Frye, 4437 Brick Church Road, Burlington, owner of First Light Custom Builders, $957.49 in kind (as wood and supplies for yard signs); Jennifer Robyn Frye, 4437 Brick Church Road, Burlington, office manager for First Light Custom Builders, $1,000; Kyle Garcia-Martin, 2213 Wrenn Street, Burlington, multifamily housing manager for Cortland Partners, $52; Jill Michelle Gerringer 3246 Van Drive, Burlington, physical therapist with the Authoracare Collective, $75 ($175 for the campaign); Teresa Goins, 1934 Glenn Street, Burlington, educational diagnostician for the Alamance-Burlington school system, $200 ($270 for the campaign);
Lisa Guntert, 1802 Inglewood Drive, Burlington, analyst with Velera, $75; Shonda Harrell-Nichols, 6805 Latigo Lane, Wendell, payroll specialist for Durham County, $250; Tonia Hernandez, 320 Edgewood Church Drive, Mebane, accounting and financial systems manager for Durham County, $100; Larry Holt, 206 Mae Court, Creedmoor, owner of Holt Tree Service, $100; Winfield Holt, P.O. Box 1029, Carrboro, real estate investor with BBB Realty, $2,600;
Joanna Jones, 216 Solstice Drive, Haw River, accounting manager for Early Years, LLC, $60 ($2,842 for the campaign); Joseph Jones, 216 Solstice Drive, Haw River, contract services coordinator for Durham County, $152 ($318 for the campaign); Kaitlyn Jones, 1508 Littlejohn Lane, Burlington, trial master file specialist for LMK Clinical Research Consulting, $260; Kevin Jones, 5522 Field View Road, Mebane, deputy sheriff with Orange County’s sheriff, $26 ($126 for the campaign); Seely Jones, 147 St. Luke’s Church Road, Mebane, not employed, $136;
Debra Kaufman, 207 West Holt Street, Mebane, unemployed, $85; Brian Kennedy, 654 Spanish Oak Road, Elon, consultant with Kennedy Consulting, $500; Elizabeth Kennett, 324 West Willowbrook Drive, Burlington, director of Atrium Health, $150; Mary Harley Kruter, 750 Weaver Dairy Road, Apartment 1321, Chapel Hill, not employed, $250; Rosemary Leonard Bethea, 7514 Cummings Drive, Mebane, not employed, $500;
Keon Long, 609 South Boulevard, Unit D, Oak Park, Illinois, financial advisor for Edward Jones, $200; Sonya Long, 3432 Cashew Drive, Raleigh, accountant with Mind Your Bizness, $100; Tiffany Long, 4145 Dickey Mill Road, Mebane, executive accountant for Durham County, $1,875 ($3,107 for the campaign); Jason Lynch, 2104 Becketts Ridge Drive, Hillsborough, barber at Klean Kutts Barbershop, $1,000; Lisa Marinis, 2453 Hodges Road, Burlington, teacher for the Alamance-Burlington school system, $75 ($225 for the campaign);
Michael Mays, 3112 Raccoon Run Drive, Burlington, lieutenant with Allied Universal Security, $100; Jacqueline McIntyre, 3278 Altamahaw Race Track Road, Elon, not employed, $200; Jacqueline McIver, 2446 Michelle Drive, Burlington, not employed, $102 ($193 for the campaign); Anne McLane, 3018 Black Elk Court, Burlington, not employed, $250; Latasha Mebane, 904 Cannonade Drive, Whitsett, first sergeant with the Caswell County sheriff’s office, $100;
April Mitchell, 1008 Cook Mill Road, Mebane, AP Specialist at Carol Woods, $126 ($251.83 for the campaign); Sharnelle Mitchell, 311Armistead Court, Burlington, nurse with Central Carolina Hospital, $200; Justin Moody, 1924 Jeffries Cross Road, Burlington, co-owner of Green Life Waste Solutions, $500 ($1,000 for the campaign); Cyril Nesmith, 3198 Cascade Drive, Burlington, tax strategist for Dualvision, $500; Katherine A. Owre, 3844 Heritage Drive, Apartment 108, Burlington, not employed, $200;
John Allen Peterson, 114 Georgetown Drive, Elon, not employed, $500; Deborah Pettus, 1030 Flats Avenue, Apartment 100, Mebane, not employed, $100 ($185 for the campaign); Tina Pierce, 2009 Atlas Drive, Haw River, realtor with Above Expectations Realty, $76; Garry Poole, 1827 Eric Drive, Graham, delivery driver for the McLane Company, $300 ($932 for the campaign); Phyllis Portie-Ascott, 723 Church Grove Boulevard, Hillsborough, realtor with PPA Properties, $100;
Jeff Ressin, 309 Ayito Road SE, Vienna, Virginia, not employed, $100; Rareka Rochelle, 1203 Torrey Pines Court, Mebane, loan administrator with the State Employees Credit Union, $1,181 (1,246 for the campaign); Joel Shapiro, 4312 Victoria Lane, Alexandria, Virginia, not employed, $100; William Shaw, 1802 Inglewood Drive, Burlington, owner of Inanimate Reason, $1,126 in cash and $235.65 in kind (for canvassing supplies and copies of campaign handouts); Al Smith, 1010 Palace Drive, Efland, law enforcement officer with the Burlington police department, $400;
John Smith, 3649 Mine Creek Road, Burlington, not employed, $250; Martiez Taylor, P.O. Box 425, Burlington, not employed, $200; Angela Thompson, 849 Rivers Edge Drive, Graham, owner of the Thompson Group, $1,156; Marlo Thompson, 3017 Poplar Drive, Efland, accounting specialist for Duke University, $78; Sharon Thompson, 807 Clausun Drive, Durham, assistant dean of admissions at Duke University, $250;
Doretha Tinnin, 251 Curry Street, Mebane, not employed, $61; Terrie Torain, 214 Richmond Road, Mebane, program coordinator at the Cedar Grove Community Center, $1,100 ($1,267.50 for the campaign); William Traynor, 5768 Church Road, Graham, consultant with Trusted Space Partners, $150 ($380 for the campaign); Katherine Troutman, 3436 Copper Trace Drive, Haw River, not employed, $26 ($400 for the campaign); Larry Vellani, 104 East Jackson Street, Mebane, not employed, $100;
Argrow R. Warren, 2200 Quaker Creek Drive, Apartment 2203, Mebane, not employed, $100; Molly Whitlatch, 531 North Main Street, Graham, attorney for the Recycling Partnership, $100; Dannie Williams, 2041 Bellemont-Alamance Road, Burlington, not employed, $200; Meda Williams, 232 Brookstone Way, Angier, real estate manager for Tilghman & Company, $250; and Crystally Wright, 143 Tarleton Avenue, Burlington, CFO for Durham County, $250.
Long’s third quarter receipts also include several donations that the candidate has made to his own campaign. According to his disclosure report, Long has anted up $168.83 in supplies for campaign yard signs, along with another $45 in cash, bringing his total contributions for the election cycle to $9,985.82.
Terry Johnson
The latest figures for Terry Johnson were unavailable as of press time on Wednesday due to the aforementioned slipup by state election officials. An earlier roundup of Johnson’s campaign finances can nevertheless be found in the documents that the incumbent sheriff had filed with the local elections office for the second quarter of 2026.
Johnson’s second quarter report reveals that the incumbent sheriff had already received $316,068.84 in campaign contributions by end of that filing period. This sum includes $91,570.84 for the second quarter – which, by the state’s rendering, began on February 15 and ended on June 30, 2026. These funds include $170 in contributions that were small enough to list in the aggregate.
Johnson’s second quarter report also details another $91,400.84 in larger donations from more than 40 individual contributors. These named donors read like a who’s who of Alamance County’s business establishment and include at least 10 people whose financial support has come to $5,000 or more. Also appearing in this list are one current county commissioners and at least two high-ranking current or former members of Johnson’s staff.
What follows is a full list of Johnson’s itemized second-quarter donors:
Shelton Brown, 1003 Dogwood Lane, Graham, identified as a “major” with “Alamance County,” $250; Jeremy Burton, 1429 Kernodle Landing, Burlington, Burton Logistics, $2,500; John H. Burton, 2472 Forest Lake Drive, Mebane, owner of Zack’s Hotdogs, $2,500; Robert Chandler, 3240 Coventry Place, Burlington, owner of Chandler Concrete, $1,000 ($2,000 for the campaign); Tom Chandler, Jr., 2516 Pineway Drive, Burlington, construction for Chandler Concrete, $1,000 ($2,000 for the campaign);
Tom Chandler, Sr., 5348 NC 62 South, Burlington, owner of Chandler Concrete, $1,000 ($2,000 for the campaign); Tom Coble, 4357 East Greensboro-Chapel Hill Road, Snow Camp, car salesman, not employed, $1,250; Terry D. Crenshaw, P.O. Box 910, Burlington, owner of Carolina Nissan, $6,800; James Crouch, 2529 Pineway Drive, Burlington, financial advisor with Mass Mutual Insurance, $500; Larry Kevin Dean, 3671 Bason Road, Mebane, fiduciary with Independent Fiduciary Services, $100;
Jerry Doss, 212 Johnston Street, Haw River, owner of a drapery shop in Mebane, $500; Jackie Fortner, 7668 Oak Flat Lane, Snow Camp, “not employed,” $2,000; Susan I. Fortner, 7668 Oak Flat Lane, Snow Camp, nurse, not employed, $500; Albert Freeman, 1888 Fairfield Drive, Burlington, owner of Freeman Electric, $1,500; Michael Freshwater, 3612 NC 87 South, Graham, owner of Freshwater Garage, $500;
Alan E. Gant, 1022 West Davis Street, Burlington, not employed, $6,000; Mary Thomas Gilbert, 611 Newbern Court, Burlington, homemaker, $250; J. Mike Hall, 1112 Castle Drive, Graham, not employed, $100; Gary E. Harris, 2546 Barber Road, Elon, CEO of the Harris Asset Group, $1,500; Kenneth W. Hinshaw, 8502 Kenly Drive, Liberty, retired salesman with Pro Feet, $100 ($200 for the campaign);
Victoria S. Hunt, 161 Via Palma, Palm Beach, Florida, owner of Hunt Electric, $6,800; Rector Samuel Hunt III, 161 Via Palma, Palm Beach, Florida, owner of Hunt Electric, $6,800; W. Daryl Ingold, 4115 Argyle Trace, Burlington, not employed, $1,000; Douglas W. Kimrey, P.O. Box 305, Graham, owner of Doug Kimrey & Son Plumbing, $500; Gene Kimrey, P.O. Box 2314, Burlington, owner of Associated Plumbing, $250;
Ronald G. Kirkpatrick, Jr., 1967 South Main Street, Graham, owner of Triangle Grading, $5,000; Brad Koury, P.O. Box 850, Burlington, owner of Carolina Hosiery, $6,800; Louis K. Ludwig, 2144 Carroll Drive, Elon, management for Glen Raven Mills, $250; Susan M. Lynn, 1023 Doolin Street, Burlington, flight attendant, not employed, $100 ($250 for the campaign); John M. Mall, 2278 Huffman Mill Road, Burlington, self-employed realtor, $200;
Bill Maness, P.O. Box 1997, Burlington, owner of Potholes USA, $250; Perry E. Nichols, 509 Truitt Drive, Elon, part-owner of Nichols Dodge, $6,800; Homer L. Pike, 2065 South NC 54, Graham, welder, not employed, $200; Edward Priola, 747 South Eighth Street, Mebane, Alamance County commissioner, $250; Stephen Douglas Shoffner, 4855 Friendship Patterson Mill Road, Burlington, owner of Carolina Supply, $250;
Dale Stearns, 100 Turnbury Place, Elon, owner of County Ford, $300; Thomas L. Teague, P.O. Box 24788, Winston-Salem, owner of Salem Leasing, $7,200 ($13,600 for the campaign); Donald Bruce Tichy, P.O. Box 220, Village of Alamance, president of the Tichy Train Group, $500 ($1,500 for the campaign); Jason Turner, 412 Bradley Street, Burlington, owner of Accelerated Graphics, $250; Glenda Walker, 4630 Blanchard Road, Burlington, owner of Walker Farm Venue, $3,500 in kind (for use of event venue); and Wendy Woolard, 5025 South NC 54, Graham, administrative assistant with Adams Towing, $6,800.
Johnson’s second quarter report also lists an in-kind contribution of $6,800 from Cox Advertising for the use of the company’s outdoor advertising facilities and a monetary donation of $750.84 from the campaign fund of the late county commissioner John Paisley, Jr.
Three of Johnson’s second-quarter donors make subsequent appearances among the campaign disbursements for the same period. Two of these dual entries are in-kind contributors. The third is Jackie Fortner, who despite being described as “not employed” in Johnson’s disclosure report, currently serves as the chief deputy under the incumbent sheriff.
According to Johnson’s second quarter report, Forter received $5,000 from the campaign on March 5 as compensation for “putting out signs” and to reimburse him for fuel and supplies. Fortner also appears in the disbursement’s section of Johnson’s year-end report for 2025 where he is credited with a disbursement of $4,300 on December 1 for “putting out campaign signs.”
