Durham County

Here are the candidates running in Durham’s 2022 local races

Candidates have filed ahead of Durham County’s 2022 elections.
Candidates have filed ahead of Durham County’s 2022 elections. ctoth@newsobserver.com

Durham County voters will elect a district attorney, sheriff and school board members during the 2022 primaries.

With no Republicans filing to run in either race, the May 17 Democratic primaries for DA and sheriff will determine the winners, barring a successful write-in challenge.

Incumbent District Attorney Santana Deberry will face criminal defense attorneys Daniel Meier and Jonathan Wilson III.

Sheriff Clarence F. Birkhead will face Paul Martin, a former major in the sheriff’s office and Durham Police Department.

In other races, Durham County voters will also elect a new Clerk of Superior Court and school board members.

The Durham Public Schools’ Board of Education consists of seven non-partisan members who serve four-year staggered terms.

Voters elect one member at-large, four from districts and two from consolidated districts, based on where they live in the county.

Fourteen candidates, including four incumbents, are running.

And since there is no primary in the nonpartisan school board race, those selected in May will be the district’s new board members.

This is not an election year for the Durham County Board of Commissioners. In 2020, the most recent commissioners race, Nida Allam and Nimasheena Burns were elected, along with incumbent Commissioners Brenda Howerton, Wendy Jacobs and Heidi Carter, who all held onto their seats.

The deadline to register to vote in the May primary election is 5 p.m. Friday, April 22.

Absentee-by-mail voting begins on Monday, March 28. And one-stop early voting will be held from Thursday, April 28, to Saturday, May 14.

District Attorney

Satana Deberry, Democrat *

Daniel Meier, Democrat

Jonathan Wilson II, Democrat

* incumbent

Sheriff

Clarence Birkhead, Democrat *

Paul Martin, Democrat

* incumbent

Clerk of Superior Court

Archie Smith III, Democrat *

LiBria Stephens, Democrat

Aminah Thompson, Democrat

* incumbent

Board of Education

DISTRICT 1

Emily Chavez

Jasper Fleming

Curtis Hrischuk

DISTRICT 2

Christopher Burns

Donald Hughes

Bettina Umstead *

* incumbent

DISTRICT 3

Gayathri Rajaraman

Matthew Sears *

* incumbent

DISTRICT 4

Natalie Beyer *

Valarie Jarvis

Myca Jeter

* incumbent

CONSOLIDATED DISTRICT B

Joetta Macmiller

Frederick Ravin *

Millicent Rogers

* incumbent

The Durham Report

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This story was originally published March 8, 2022 at 9:18 AM.

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