Greensboro's African American Community Newspaper since 1967
Early voting numbers for Guilford County were 13 percent higher this election with 218,152 votes being cast early, compared to 191,477 early votes cast in the 2020 election. Out of 391,012 registered voters, 284,755 votes were cast in Guilford County. Here are the unofficial results with 100 percent of precincts reporting.
In the Guilford County Board of Education races, there were four seats on the ballot. In District 3, Democrat David Coates unseated incumbent Republican Michael Logan with 45 percent of the vote, compared Logan’s 43 percent of the vote. Bill Goebel, the Unaffiliated candidate secured 11.34 percent of the vote.
For District 5, incumbent Deborah Napper, a Democrat, retained her seat with 59 percent of the vote, to Republican challenger Cara Dohner’s 40 percent of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Bettye Jenkins secured the District 7 seat with 80 percent of the vote, over Republican challenger, Karen Coble Albright’s 19 percent of the vote. Jenkins is the BOE’s current vice-chair and has been in office since 2020.
District 1 incumbent T. Dianne Bellamy-Small (D), ran unopposed in the General Election, after defeating two other Democratic candidates in the primary election. She has served on the board since 2016.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners races saw no shakeups this year, with all four members returning to their respective seats.
Incumbent Democrat Mary Beth Murphy, who has held the BOC District 4 seat since 2020, garnered 54 percent of the vote, beating out Republican challenger, Tony Jacobelli. He received 45 percent of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Carly Cooke will go into her second term as a District 5 Commissioner after winning 61 percent of the vote over Republican challenger, Reece Walker.
Incumbent Brandon Gray-Hill, a Democrat, held onto the District 6 seat, securing 57 percent of the vote over Republican challenger, Maritza Gomez, who received 43 percent of the vote. Gray-Hill was selected to fill in the remainder of Commissioner James Upchurch’s term after he vacated the seat in October 2023.
County Commission Chairman Melvin “Skip” Alston kept his District 8 seat as he was unopposed in the race. He received 21,348 votes on Tuesday night.
Guilford County voters also sent all the incumbents back to the N.C. House of Representatives on Tuesday. Despite only being in the seat since August, voters reelected Democrat Tracy Clark to the N.C. House of Representatives District 57 seat with 68 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Janice Davis’ 31.9 percent of the vote.
Democratic incumbent Amos Quick ran uncontested in the General Election for District 58 and received 32,198 votes. Quick has held the seat since 2017.
Republican incumbent Alan Branson, who was appointed to fill the seat this year, secured the District 59 seat with 55 percent of the vote over Democrat challenger, Tanneisha Dukes’ 44 percent of the vote.
Incumbent Cecil Brockman, a Democrat, retained the District 60 seat after defeating Republican Joseph Perrotta with 63 percent of the vote. Perrotta received 36 percent of the vote. Brockman has represented the 60th District since he was first elected in 2014.
Democrat incumbent Pricey Harrison won her longtime seat for District 61 on Tuesday after getting 78.8 percent of the vote over Republican challenger, Crystal Davis who received 21 percent of the vote.
Incumbent Republican John Blust defeated Democrat Marjorie Benbow for the District 62 seat with 53 percent to 46 percent of the vote, respectively. Blust has been the representative for District 62 since former Rep. John Faircloth resigned in September. He previously served in the N.C. Senate from 1996-99.
In the N.C. Senate races, Guilford County voters voted yes to the incumbents. Republican incumbent Phil Berger won the District 26 race with 52 percent of the vote compared to Democrat candidate Steve Luking’s 43 percent, and Constitution party candidate Alvin Robinson’s four percent. Berger has served 12 terms since he was first elected in 2000.
Incumbent Michael Garrett, a Democrat, took 60 percent of the vote beating out Republican challenger Paul Schumacher, who received 39 percent of the vote. Garrett has represented the 27th District since he was elected in 2018.
N.C. Sen. Gladys Robinson will continue to serve the 28th District, after running unopposed in the General Election. She received 78,347 votes. This will be her eighth term in the state senate.
In the local judicial races, N.C. District Court Judge District 24 goes as follows: Democrat Ashley Watlington-Simms won seat 3 with 188,206 votes; Democrat Carolina Tomlinson-Pemberton won seat 4 with 186,144 votes; Democrat Walter W. Baker won seat 5 with 185,354 votes; Democrat Michelle Fletcher won seat 6 with 185,369 votes; Democrat Angela Foster won seat 7 with 184,628 votes; Democrat Angela Bullard Fox won seat 8 with 184,696 votes; Democrat Tabatha Holliday won seat 9 with 184,748 votes; Democrat Charlene Armstrong won seat 10 with 183,989 votes; Democrat Bill Davis won seat 11with 184,210 votes; Democrat Kelvin Smith won seat 12 with 183,609 votes; Democrat Brian Tomlin won seat 13 with 183,979 votes; Democrat Tomakio Gause won seat 14 with 182,874 votes. All candidates were unopposed in the General Election.
Democrat Jeff L. Thigpen ran unopposed and was reelected to the Register of Deeds, garnering 92,110 votes. In another unopposed race, Ray Briggs won the Guilford Water and Soil Conservation Supervisor seat with 173,388 votes, over the 3,984 write-in votes.
Also on Tuesday’s ballot, Guilford County voters overwhelmingly opposed a proposed quarter-cent sales tax increase, which would have generated around $25 million annually for education by raising the sales tax rate from 6.75 percent to 7 percent. The measure, aimed at increasing pay for teachers, bus drivers, and other school staff, was rejected by 60 percent of voters, with 40 percent voting in favor.
According to the N.C. Board of Elections, there is still the processing of outstanding ballots, including absentee ballots received on Election Day, military ballots and provisional ballots. The last day for these ballots to be counted is 5 p.m. on November 14. These additional counts will be added to the election results dashboard over the 10-day canvass period, culminating in official certifications on November 15 for local contests and November 26 for statewide contests.
