Donald Street, pair of sitting commissioners cruise in their races
Current county commissioner Jeff Harding and fellow commissioner Steve Pitman emerged from the primary as the two top vote-getters. Clayton Roberts earned the third and final spot, beating out challengers Dewayne McKinney and Jerry Prosser.
When the polls closed on the Primary Election late Tuesday, May 17, the story was about the success of incumbents in local races.
Current Mitchell County Sheriff Donald Street won his bid for re-election by rolling in the race against challenger Charles Dean Corn.
Street earned 2,966 votes (78.38%) to defeat Corn who got 818 votes (21.62%).
In the race for county commissioner seats, incumbents enjoyed similar success with current commissioners Steve Pitman and Jeff Harding emerging as the two top vote-getters.
Pitman earned the most votes of any of the five candidates on the ballot, earning 2,435 votes (26.42%) while Harding was on his heels with 2,226 votes (24.15%).
With one other spot up for election, it was the trio of challengers— Clayton Roberts, Dewayne McKinney and Jerry Prosser— jockeying for the slot.
Roberts earned the spot by edging out McKinney. Roberts got 1,933 votes (20.97%) while McKinney was just behind with 1,919 (20.82%). Prosser rounded out the field with 705 votes (7.65%).
In other races, Matt Rupp rolled in the race for NC District Court Judge for District 24 by garnering nearly 75% of the vote, easily defeating challenger Tom McMurray.
Incumbent Ralph Hise cruised in his race against Deanna Ballard for NC State Senate District 47. He earned more than 70% of the votes.
Michael J. Stading and Donna Stroud won in races for NC Court of Appeals seats and Trey Allen won in the race for an NC Supreme Court Justice seat.
Virginia Foxx had no problem in her race against Michael Ackerman for U.S. House of Representatives for District 5. She registered 64.09% of the votes in the win.
Cheri Beasley won Mitchell County in the Democratic race for U.S. Senate by garnering 67.40% of the votes. Ted Budd beat out Pat McCrory in the same race on the Republican side in Mitchell by earning 60.54% of the votes.
In total, Mitchell County voters cast 4,091 ballots in the 2022 primary, good for 37.15% voter participation.