Election Day promises changes in county, city leadership

Lincoln County Board of Commissioners chairman Bill Beam, who served as chief deputy emeritus under Carpenter during his first term in office, won the Republican nomination for sheriff by a landslide, despite a stacked ballot that featured six prospective candidates. While the local Democratic Party failed to field a candidate in the 2018 race for a new Lincoln County sheriff, Beam will be opposed by United States Marine Corps veteran and Lincolnton street preacher Alan Hoyle, who received enough signatures from registered voters to have his name included on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate. 

Two new members will be elected to serve on the Lincoln County Board of Commissioners, although that race was decided in May since no Democrat stepped forward to fill those positions either. Denver Defense manager Bud Cesena and current Lincoln County planning board member Milton Sigmon received the most votes in May’s six-candidate Republican primary election and will be the only two names listed on November’s ballot. 

Three of the four seats on the Lincolnton City Council will be up for election this year, as well as the mayor’s seat, although no Republican challenger stepped forward to challenge incumbent Lincolnton Mayor Ed Hatley, a Democrat. 

Ward 1 and Ward 2 are guaranteed new representation on the Lincolnton City Council after sitting members Tim Smith and David Black decided not to seek re-election. 

In Ward 1, Democrat Mary Frances White is hoping to become the first black woman elected to office in Lincoln County, but she’ll have to defeat Paul Eurey Jr., a Republican, to do so. In Ward 2, Republican candidate Fred Jarrett -- who currently chairs the city’s steering committee -- will face off against former Lincoln County Schools Superintendent Dr. Jim Watson,  a Democrat. 

The race in Ward 3 will feature incumbent Democrat Dr. Martin Eaddy, who is also a former Superintendent of Lincoln County Schools, facing former Lincolnton police officer Derek Thom, a Republican. 

Three of the county’s seven nonpartisan school board seats will also be up for election this year, including one of the board’s two at-large seats. 

Three candidates are vying to fill the at-large seat that will be vacated by sitting board member Candy Burgin, who has decided not to seek re-election. Former school board member Tony Jenkins, who has served two previous terms on the board, will be campaigning against Clarissa Metts Hill and Clifidean Foster Bethea, both of whom have run for election to the school board in the past. 

Incumbent District 2 Board of Education representative Joan Avery will be campaigning against Clayton Mullis, who represented District 2 on the school board before Avery took office. In District 5, incumbent candidate Todd Wulfhorst will not face a challenger. 

Other local races include a battle for Clerk of Superior Court, where incumbent Republican Fred Hatley will run against Gold Hill Missionary Baptist Church Bishop Franklin Lowery, a Democrat, and a race between Republican Micah Sanderson and Democrat Ali Paksoy, Jr. to become a local District Court judge. There are also three candidates -- incumbents Leonard Keever and Terry Turbyfill, as well as Theodore Huss -- vying to be elected to the Lincoln County Soil and Water Conservation District board, although only two will be elected. 

Additionally, incumbent Republican District Attorney Mike Miller and incumbent Republican Register of Deeds Danny Hester will run unopposed in their bids for re-election. 

At the state level, Lincoln County is guaranteed a new state Senator after incumbent Republican David Curtis was defeated by former Shelby Mayor Ted Alexander in May’s Republican primary election. Alexander will now face former Kingstown Mayor David Lattimore, a Democrat, in November. 

Incumbent Lincoln County state Rep. Jason Saine, a Lincolnton Republican, will be campaigning against Denver Democrat Natalie Robertson who, like Saine, works in information technology. 

Finally, at the federal level, incumbent Rep. Patrick McHenry -- the chief deputy whip in the U.S. House of Representatives -- will seek re-election to his eighth consecutive term in Congress. McHenry will face David Wilson Brown, a McAdenville Democrat who works as an information technology consultant. 

More information on Tuesday’s election can be found by visiting www.lincolncounty.org and selecting “Elections” under the “Government” tab. Those with questions can contact the Lincoln County Board of Elections by calling (704) 736-8480.