Hartman wins sheriff race

Published 9:57 pm Tuesday, May 8, 2018

J.D. Hartman was elected sheriff of Davie County by a landslide during the Republican primary on Tuesday.

Hartman finished with 3,514 votes, followed by Mitch Whitener with 1,818 votes, Mark Howell with 263 votes, Nelson Turrentine with 239 votes and Kevin Curtiss with 91 votes.

Since no Democrat or other candidate filed for the office, Hartman is also the likely the winner in the November general election. A former chief deputy under Sheriff Andy Stokes, Hartman was appointed by the Republican party to fill the remainder of Stokes’ final term in office.

The race for two seats on the county board of commissioners was close, and as results were posted precinct by precinct Tuesday, James Blakley and Benita Finney were neck and neck – even tied for a few times.

Blakley came out on top with 2,935 votes, or 27.13 percent, and Finney finished with 2,799 votes, or 25.82 percent. They were followed by incumbents Robert Wisecarver with 2,285 votes, John Ferguson with 2,090 votes and Charles Odell Williams with 711 votes.

Since no Democrats filed for the county commission, it is likely the primary winners will be elected in November. It was too early Tuesday night to see if another candidate will call for a second primary.

In the race for three seats on the Davie Board of Education, Clint Junker led the way on the Republican ballot with 4,424 votes, Lori Smith Sluder had 4,034 votes, David Carroll finished with 2,606 votes and Dwight Goodman had 2,451 votes.

The winners will be joined on the November ballot by  Democrat Vickie Moore, and possibly by independent Barbara Owens, who has to get enough signatures of registered voters to be included on the ballot.

Although Dan Barrett easily won Davie County with 4,169 votes to 1,472 for Joyce Krawiec, only 24 of 45 precincts in Forsyth County had been reported as of press time. Barrett had 5,502 total votes to 4,194 for Krawiec. Both are Republicans.

A total of 22.91 percent of Davie’s registered voters cast a ballot for this primary election.