These are the winners of Orange County commissioner, Carrboro Town Council races
An Orange County commissioner appointed 19 months ago rode a dominant early lead to victory Tuesday in the District 2 race.
Democrat Phyllis Portie-Ascott, the sole commissioner with a challenger on the ballot, won nearly three-quarters of the vote to defeat Republican H. Nathan Robinson, with all of the county’s 40 precincts reporting results as of 9:20 p.m.
Other candidates — at-large incumbent Amy Fowler, District 1 incumbent Jean Hamilton and newcomer Marilyn Carter — ran unopposed and will also start four-year terms in December.
District 2 covers the northern and western portions of Orange County, while District 1 covers Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The at-large board members represent the entire county.
Another three commissioners on the seven-member board did not face re-election this year.
The Orange County Board of Elections reported 113,699 registered voters cast ballots in the 2024 election, with roughly 60.4% showing up during Early Voting.
Portie-Ascott, a Hillsborough resident appointed to her seat in February 2023, told The News & Observer she has three priorities: addressing the housing crisis, meeting mental and behavioral health needs, and northern Orange County workforce development.
She has been a real estate investor since 1997 and started her own company, PPA Properties, in 2009.
Carrboro Town Council
Cristóbal Palmer, a longtime resident, won his first term on the nonpartisan Carrboro Town Council in unofficial, final results Tuesday.
With all eight of the town’s precincts reporting, nearly 78% of voters chose Palmer, a UNC-Chapel Hill systems administrator and technical director of a digital library and tech lab.
His opponent, Isaac Woolsey, garnered over 20% of the vote.
Palmer will fill Mayor Barbara Foushee’s unexpired council term through December 2025, when he will have the option of running for a four-year term.
Palmer, 40, is active in the Democratic Party and a member of the Triangle Linux Users Group and the Carrboro Bicycle Coalition. He occasionally writes for the grassroots Triangle Blog Blog. He is the son of Maria Palmer, who was the first Latina to join the N.C. Board of Education and served on the Chapel Hill Town Council from 2013 to 2017.
This story was originally published November 5, 2024 at 7:59 PM.
