Responding to top NC Democrat, board chair defends allowing party-switcher on ballot
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- State Board chair defended allowing party-switcher Bobby Knight on 2026 ballot.
- Republican majority overruled county board, citing registration error authority.
- Democrats called the move a slippery slope; challengers allege strategic switch.
In a letter to one of North Carolina’s top Democratic leaders, the Republican chair of the State Board of Elections on Thursday defended the board’s controversial decision to allow a candidate on the 2026 ballot who appeared to violate a law against late party switching.
The letter, obtained by The News & Observer, responds to criticism from House Democratic Leader Robert Reives, who argued that the board’s decision to allow Bobby Knight to run for sheriff in Wilson County flouted state law.
Knight, a longtime Republican who switched his registration to Democrat for a few hours last month, found himself at odds with a state law that requires candidates to be affiliated with a political party for 90 days before filing for office.
Board Chair Francis De Luca wrote that Knight’s brief party switch “was accidental and thus not applicable to the statutory prohibition period for candidate filing.”
De Luca’s letter comes in response to a statement from Reives’ office on Wednesday, in which he warned that the decision from the newly Republican-controlled board was a “slippery slope” and called it a “bad start for the partisan elections board.”
“North Carolina voters deserve to know that the State Board of Elections is following the law when they make important decisions about candidate eligibility,” he said.
The board’s decision, which came in a 3-2 vote with the Republican majority prevailing, overruled a prior decision from the Wilson County Board of Elections, which had barred Knight’s candidacy in a bipartisan vote.
In his letter to Reives, De Luca contended that the board had the authority to correct a legitimate error in registration, citing a state law that governs when registration changes become effective and allows county officials to correct errors in party affiliation.
“We offer this clarification to ensure that you and your colleagues have a complete and accurate understanding of the legal rationale supporting the Board’s decision and can remain confident in the integrity and consistency of election administration in our state,” he wrote.
Opponent says party switch was a strategy
But at least one of Knight’s opponents, Democrat Brandon Barbrey, alleged that the party switch wasn’t an error, but rather a “clear picture of strategic maneuvering,” according to his lawyer, Andrew Simpson.
Barbrey argued that Knight decided to switch parties after learning that Wilson’s current sheriff, Calvin Woodard, a Democrat, was retiring.
He said that Knight spent the morning calling other law enforcement officers to determine who Woodard would endorse and what party that candidate would be.
Rhyan Breen, Knight’s attorney, said his client’s switch was an honest mistake and contended that Barbrey’s testimony relied only on his own interpretation of Knight’s motivations.
“His beliefs aren’t facts; his conjecture isn’t data,” Breen said.
Thursday’s letter isn’t the first time the State Board of Elections has defended its work in letters to legislative leaders.
In 2024, after Republican Senate leader Phil Berger suggested malfeasance in the timeline for the vote-counting process, the board’s then-executive director, Karen Brinson Bell, asked him to retract his comments.
“When you tell your fellow citizens that an election is being conducted fraudulently, they listen,” she said in a letter to Berger. “I fear for the people running elections in this state, including in your own community, that some misguided people will conclude from your statements that actions must be taken, perhaps through the use of threats or violence.”
Brinson Bell was ousted as the board’s director last year after the board flipped to Republican control following the passage of a controversial bill stripping Democratic Gov. Josh Stein of his appointments to the board.
The legislation, which gave the appointments instead to Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek, upended over a century of precedent in which the governor’s party held majorities on state and local election boards.
This story was originally published January 22, 2026 at 3:00 PM.
