Democrats will keep majority on Wake County Board of Commissioners

Democrats will keep their majority on the Wake County Board of Commissioners.

The Democratic candidates for the five contested seats on the county board were able to maintain their leads as voting results slowly trickled in Tuesday night. Some of the Democratic candidates had more than double the votes of their Republican challengers and were able to keep the numbers up throughout the night. Voter turnout was more than 57 percent — 428,408 votes.

Wake County Commissioners Jessica Holmes and James West — both Democrats — were unopposed in the general election and will retain their seats. The results of the election will be official after they are certified next week. Here are the unofficial results:

• District 1: Incumbent Sig Hutchinson, a Democrat, received 61.40 percent of the votes against Republican challenger Greg Jones, who had 35.51 percent.
  
  
• District 2: Incumbent Matt Calabria, a Democrat, received 63.58 percent of the votes against Republican challenger Frann Sarpolus, who had 36.42 percent.
  
  
• District 4: Former Democratic school board member Susan Evans received 61.82 percent of the vote against Republican challenger Kim Coley, who had 38.47 percent.
  
  
• District 6: Incumbent Greg Ford, a Democrat, received 61.53 percent of the vote against Republican challenger David Blackwelder, who had 38.47 percent.
  
  
• District 7: Democratic candidate Vickie Adamson received 62.88 percent of the vote against Alex Moore, a Republican, who had 37.12 percent.

The Democratic candidates were in two separate spots on Election Night — Isaac Hunter’s Tavern and the Player’s Retreat.

At the Player’s Retreat, Adamson, Evans and Ford had gathered with fans and other candidates, cheering when other Democrats pulled ahead in a race.

Evans, a former school board member, said she’s looking forward to the opportunity to serve Wake County again.

“I want to focus on good planning and processes to keep Wake County a good place to live, work and raise children,” she said.

Reemphasizing her focus on public education, Adamson said putting a school counselor in every public school would be a top priority.

Ford said he was thankful for the large turnout and was looking forward to the rest of the results coming in.

“As a former teacher and principal, public education is going to remain my top priority,” he said. “And I think that is in line with the values of Wake County. But I do want to expand our work in mental and behavioral health services and building upon our work already in affordable housing.”

Over at Isaac Hunter’s, Calabria said he was thankful Wake County voters appreciated “the forward-thinking” leadership the commission has been able to provide in recent years. .

“I’m honored by the support voters have shown, and I’m looking forward to continuing my work to support our schools, improve transportation and tackle our housing affordability challenges,” he said. “No matter who you voted for, I’m looking forward to representing you.”

The issues that Hutchinson is passionate about haven’t changed. And people, he said, want him to continue working on those issues.

“I feel honored that the voters have understood the work I do and issues I am interested in,” Hutchinson said. “And they want me to represent them and continue to serve them.”

The general election was relatively tame compared to a contentious Democratic primary that saw prominent donors shifting support over public schools funding. The five commissioners that saw Democratic challengers were the same commissioners that voted for a budget that didn’t give the Wake County Public School System everything it said it needed.

Adamson and Evans ousted incumbents John Burns and Erv Portman during the Democratic primary.

All of the Democratic candidates — except for Hutchinson — listed school funding as one of two top issues to work on. Hutchinson said water, land use, transportation and community health were his top issues.

Tim Jowers, the Libertarian candidate for the District 1 seat on the Wake County Board, received 3.1 percent of the vote. He was killed in a car accident in September.

Unofficial election results also showed favorable results for the three county bonds. Full election results for local, state and federal races will be available online at www.newsobserver.com.

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 8:31 PM.