Tuesday’s elections in Orange County will keep incumbents in the U.S. House, state House, and judicial and law enforcement positions in office. Meanwhile, the Board of County Commissioners will get several new members filling seats that had been held by longtime commissioners.
Karen Stegman and Beth Bronson both sailed to victory over challengers from outside the Democratic Party to each win a first term on the county board. Rani Dasi was unopposed in her bid for a first full-term on the board after being sworn in to fill a vacancy created by the death of Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford this summer.
Races at the top of the ticket helped drive turnout in Orange with most local races uncontested. A total of 72,340 voters cast ballots in Orange in this election, compared with 66,669 in the November 2022 election overall. Orange County voters overwhelmingly favored former Gov. Roy Cooper in his successful bid for a U.S. Senate seat, Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls in her winning run for another term, as well as three Democrats running for state Court of Appeals. They also voted solidly against the three constitutional amendments on the ballot, which passed statewide.
Here’s a breakdown of who won in Orange County. Click below to jump to a race. Results are unofficial until certified.
state legislature
House District 50
Incumbent Rep. Renée Price officially clinched a third term representing Caswell and part of Orange County. Renée Price. She faced no opposition in the general election and won the Democratic primary against Mary Lucas with about 74% of the vote.
Before she joined the House, Price served on the Orange County Board of Commissioners for 10 years and worked as an urban planner. In the legislature, she has focused on public education, healthcare, and voting rights.
soil and water
W. Chris Hogan and Richal Vanhook will retain their seats on Orange County’s Soil and Water Conservation District Board of Supervisors.
Vanhook was elected to the Soil and Water Conservation District board in 2022 and has also served as a member of the Piedmont Electric Board of Directors.
Hogan is a former dairy farmer who has served on the board for about two decades.
They held off a third candidate, Kane Foreman who owns a landscaping and site-work company.
board of county commissioners
At-Large
In blue Orange County, Democrat Karen Stegman easily won her first term on the Board of County Commissioners over Republican Jeffrey Hoagland with 81.5% of the vote.
Stegman served two terms on the Chapel Hill Town Council, where she supported climate action policies, a nondiscrimination ordinance, and new housing. She works as a consultant in nonprofit strategy and development. As a commissioner, Stegman says she’ll work to expand housing options and correct inequities in property valuations.
Hoagland ran on a platform that included lowering taxes, combining the county’s two school districts, and addressing crime.
Stegman will fill the seat left vacant after longtime commissioner Sally Greene decided not to seek reelection after eight years on the board; prior to her election as a commissioner Greene had served on the Chapel Hill Town Council for three terms.
District 1
Rani Dasi secured a full term on the board of commissioners following Tuesday’s election results. Dasi was chosen by the local Democratic Party to replace Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford on the ballot following her unexpected death in June.
Bedford won the Democratic primary in March, and the seat drew no challengers from other parties in the general election. Prior to the election, Dasi was sworn in to finish out the remainder of Bedford’s term in August.
Dasi was a member of the Chapel Hill–Carrboro City Schools Board of Education from 2015 until her selection for the county commission seat. She is vice president of operations and finance at RTI International.
Bedford had served on the board of commissioners since 2018 and previously served for 12 years on the Chapel Hill–Carrboro City Schools Board of Education.
District 2
Democrat Beth Bronson won a first term on the board over Republican Louis D. Capitanio with 82% of votes.
Bronson is a clinical health researcher at Duke. She served as vice chair of the board of adjustment and the planning board for Orange County. Her platform included protecting natural resources, using data to guide planning and growth decisions, and broadening community engagement.
Bronson, a first-time candidate for elected office, edged out longtime incumbent commissioner Earl McKee in the March primary by 25 votes.
McKee was first elected to the county commission in 2010.
clerk
Incumbent Orange County Clerk Mark Kleinschmidt, a Democrat, was uncontested in his bid for a third term. Previously, Kleinschmidt served two terms on the Chapel Hill Town Council and three terms as mayor of Chapel Hill before being elected clerk in 2018. The clerk of superior court keeps a county’s court records and manages its court finances.
judges
District 18 Seat 1
Incumbent Judge Todd Roper won a second full term on the district court bench. The only Orange County judge on the ballot this year, he was unopposed in the primary and the general election.
Roper, a Democrat, was appointed to his seat in 2020 and won a first term in 2022. Prior to that, he worked as a lawyer on civil and criminal cases in Orange and Chatham for 30 years.
district attorney
Incumbent DA Jeff Nieman will get a second term leading the office that represents Orange and Chatham counties in criminal cases. Nieman, a Democrat, has worked in the office for 20 years.
As district attorney, Nieman has supported diverting cases involving substance-use disorder for treatment and reducing recidivism through rehabilitative programs, and reducing unnecessary incarceration.
Register of deeds
Amy McLamb was elected as Orange County’s Register of Deeds, the county official who records and safeguards a community’s legal documents.
McLamb ran on her 15-plus years of experience working in every section of the Register of Deeds office. She defeated Penny Rich in the Democratic primary and was unopposed on Tuesday. McLamb will succeed longtime Register of Deeds Mark Chilton, who retired.
sheriff
Incumbent Sheriff Charles Blackwood will get a fourth term. He ran unopposed on Tuesday after defeating David LaBarre in the primary with about 58% of the vote. Blackwood, a Democrat, has worked for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office in various roles for 30 years.
Blackwood has touted his office’s 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. The sheriff says he’ll continue to focus on addressing mental health, both for people charged with crimes and law enforcement officers.
u.s. house
4th Congressional District
U.S. Rep. Valerie Foushee won a third term representing the Triangle in Congress after an unsurprising win over Libertarian Guy Meilleur and Republican Mahesh Ganorkar. Foushee won 79% of votes cast.
Foushee previously served as school board chair in Orange County, as an Orange County commissioner, in the state House, and in the state Senate. In March, she narrowly clinched the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 4th Congressional District seat over Durham County commissioner Nida Allam in a race that drew battle lines over data centers, campaign finance, and immigration enforcement.
Foushee ran on her experience, pledging to protect voting rights, put a check on ICE’s power, and expand access to healthcare. She is one of three co-chairs tasked with developing AI policy recommendations in the House.
The 4th Congressional District includes all of Durham and Orange counties, northern Chatham County, and western Wake County.
