Orange County voters cast their ballots for a range of races from school board to state legislature. The biggest upset of the night was a razor-thin Board of County Commissioners race: Longtime incumbent Earl McKee fell behind challenger Beth Bronson by about 30 votes (that’s within recount territory).
Sheriff
Incumbent Sheriff Charles Blackwood secured his fourth consecutive term over a spirited challenge from David LaBarre. Blackwood won about 58% percent of votes to LaBarre’s 41%.
Blackwood touted his 45 years with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office and his efforts to improve mental health and substance use treatment in the jail, retain and train deputies, and implement programs to support children and the elderly.
LaBarre had argued that detainees with mental illness or substance use disorders need more support, and that the Sheriff’s Office could be a more active community partner in diverting those cases from law enforcement from the onset. He also criticized Blackwood for sending an Orange County detainee to the Alamance County jail, which partnered with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the time (Blackwood said it was standard procedure in response to the detainee allegedly assaulting a deputy).
The race got heated toward the end. LaBarre sparked controversy when he shared a Facebook post criticizing ICE agents for wearing full face masks and not identifying themselves as law enforcement. And Blackwood supporters decried ads and mailers supporting LaBarre paid for by Local Accountability PAC, a D.C.-based group with ties to a nonprofit that employs some Triangle residents and advocates for sheriff’s office reforms nationwide.
House District 50
Incumbent Renee Price won a third term over challengers Mary Lucas and Brandall Redd. Price was first elected to the state House in 2022 after 10 years on the Orange County Board of Commissioners.
Price won 74% of the votes to Lucas’s 22% and Redd’s 4%.
Price said the top issues facing the General Assembly are passing a state budget, funding public education, and reducing health care costs. The district includes most of Orange County as well as Caswell County; Price won all the precincts in both counties.
Lucas is a vice president of a hospice and palliative care organization and also emphasized health care access, as well as education funding and affordability, as top issues. A precinct chair for the Orange County Democratic Party, Lucas has served on several Raleigh and Orange County government boards. On the campaign trail, she often emphasized service gaps for rural residents.
Board of County Commissioners and Board of Education
Three of seven seats on the Orange County Board of County Commissioners were on the ballot, along with four seats on the county schools Board of Education.
Property taxes and school funding became dominant issues in both the school board and commissioners’ races (commissioners set the county-wide tax rate and funds Orange County Schools, as well as Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools). Residents are still feeling the effects of last year’s property revaluation, which caused spikes in taxpayer costs, especially in historically Black neighborhoods.
At the same time, both bodies, like others across the state, are squeezed by shrinking state funding, rising costs, and ongoing federal funding uncertainty, creating pressure to raise taxes to maintain services. Last year, Orange County’s budget fell short of the amounts that both Orange County Schools and Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools requested. For the school board, there’s the added challenge of declining enrollment, as students across North Carolina opt for charter schools and take their per-pupil state funding with them.
In Board of County Commissioners news: Karen Stegman, a former Chapel Hill Town Council member, easily won the Democratic primary for an at-large seat being vacated by two-term commissioner Sally Greene, who didn’t seek reelection. Stegman got 77% of the vote. With plenty of name recognition in the blue county and a record on council, she’s sure to win the seat in the general election against perennial Republican candidate Jeffrey Hoagland.
District 1 was a slightly tighter race. Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford was reelected with about 57% of the vote in her favor. Challenger Maria Palmer got close to 43%. . No candidates from other parties filed so Bedford has no challenger in the general election.
Bedford has served two terms on the board and previously served on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board. Palmer is an educator and faith leader who previously served on the Chapel Hill Town Council and the state Board of Education.
In the District 2 Democratic primary, longtime commissioner McKee won 5,446 votes, just behind challenger Beth Bronson’s 5,478. McKee has served on the commission since 2010. Republican candidate Louis Capitanio is on the general election ballot.
School board incumbents Anne Purcell, Will Atherton, and Sarah Smylie won re-election, and newcomer Lori Russell will join them on the board. (Board member Andre Richmond did not seek a second term, leaving an opening for a new member.)
Purcell has worked for the district for more than 30 years, holding positions from teacher assistant to principal. Purcell’s top focus was on improving students’ academic achievement and effectively communicating successes to boost recruitment and encourage parents to choose OCS. She was first elected to the school board in 2022.
Atherton has served two terms on the board and is currently its chair. On the campaign trail, Atheron touted efforts to improve student achievement, make Orange County schools more equitable, and identify savings for the district.
Smylie is a former teacher and vice chair of the board; she also won her third term. Smylie says the district has made positive strides in academic outcomes, but could improve achievement gaps and make the district more inclusive for immigrant and LGBTQ students and families.
Russell is a lawyer who advocated for more transparency and community engagement from the board.
Smylie was the top-vote getter with just under 21%, followed closely by Purcell, Russell then Atherton.
Register of Deeds
Amy McLamb won the Democratic primary for Orange County Register of Deeds. She is currently an assistant in that office under longtime incumbent Mark Chilton, who will retire next year and endorsed McLamb. McClamb defeated Penny Rich, a former Chapel Hill Town Council member and former Orange County commissioner who previously challenged Chilton in 2022.
McLamb won just under 56% of the vote to Rich’s 44%. She does not have a challenger in the general election. McLamb ran on her two decades of experience working in every section of the Register of Deeds office. During that time, she has implemented new technology, preserved historical records dating back to the 1700s and streamlined operations to save paper and money. She pledged to run an efficient, accessible Register of Deeds office.
Results are unofficial until certified.
Chase Pellegrini de Paur and Kennedy Thomason contributed reporting.
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