Local office winners got support from across county

Published 1:47 pm Tuesday, March 12, 2024

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Mike Barnhardt

Enterprise Record

Winners in local elections on March 5 garnered support from across the county – with Republicans Mark Jones leading the race for three nominations for the Davie County Board of Commissioners, and Jeff Jones leading the race for four spots on the Davie County Board of Education.

In unofficial results, Jones, who finished with 5,689 votes, won every precinct except Hillsdale, which Terry Renegar captured. Hillsdale is Renegar’s home precinct. Renegar (3,988 votes) and Richard Poindexter (3,540 votes) will appear on the November ballot, along with Libertarian  Justin Vocke.

Rounding out the voting for county commissioner: Craig Myers, 2,524; Dustin Smith, 2,056; Bill Vaughan, 2,038; Mike Butero, 1,977; Charles Odell Williams, 1,086; and Doug Rivers, 828.

The top four Republican vote getters in the race for the board of education will likely be sworn into office in December, as no other party candidates filed.

Jeff Jones led the ballot with 6,008 votes, followed by Michael Hunter with 5,705, W.G. “Dub” Potts with 5,308 and Stephanie Hurst with 4,891. Ray Wright garnered 4,148 votes, and Jeff Plott received 3,911.

Either Jones or Hunter won every precinct, some close. Jones won in North Calahaln, Jerusalem, Fulton, East Shady Grove, West Shady Grove, Smith Grove and Hillsdale. Hunter won Clarksville, South Calahaln, Cooleemee, Farmington, North Mocksville County, South Mocksville (by 1 vote more than Jones), and North Mocksville County.

Countywide, 10,405 voters, or 31.97%, cast ballots.

Davie results in other races:

• President Joe Biden received 1,130 votes from Davie Democrats, while the “no preference” option included 165 voters.

On the Republican side, former President Donald Trump received 6,793 votes, with Nikki Haley receiving 1,950.

• It appears there will be a second primary in the Republican nomination to represent the newly-formed 6th US Congressional District between Addison McDowell and Mark Walker. Trump-endorsed McDowell won Davie County (2,462 votes) and the district (21,206); with Walker getting 2,375 votes in Davie and 19,560 in the district. Trailing the two in Davie County were: Christian Castelli with 1,961, Bo Hines with 1,146, Mary Ann Congogiannis with 442 and Jay Wagner with 354.

• Josh Stein easily won the Democratic nomination for governor, in Davie County and the state. On the Republican side, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will be the nominee, also winning Davie with 5,725 votes, followed by Dale Folwell with 1,907 and Bill Graham with 1,198.

• A second primary for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor is also likely, between Jim O’Neill and Hal Weatherman. Weatherman led state voting with 181,264 votes; O’Neill received 146,488. In Davie County, O’Neill led the way with 2,504 votes, followed by Weatherman with 1,475, and Sam Page with 1,171. Rachel Hunt easliy won the Democratic nomination, in the state and in Davie County.