Macon County turned out to the polls for the 2020 primary election on Tuesday to decide multiple local, state and federal races.
Election results rolled in to the Macon County Board of Elections office just after 8 p.m. following a slight delay in the reporting process.
“We had two counties across the state that had issues with specific precincts, so they kept their polls open a little longer than expected,” board of elections deputy director Gary Tallent said. “We didn’t have any issues locally, but the state instructed us not to post any results until after 8 p.m.”
Once the numbers rolled in, it was Joe Biden who emerged victorious statewide and in Macon County in the democratic presidential primary. Biden received 1,473 votes in Macon to Bernie Sanders’ 735 and Michael Bloomberg’s 454. Elizabeth Warren received 300 votes.
Incumbent republican president Donald Trump cruised through a primary challenge with 5,499 votes in Macon County. Joe Walsh got 111 votes and Bill Weld 79.
In what turned out to be a very close race, republican candidates for U.S. House District 11 may find themselves in a May runoff. Jim Davis carried Macon County with 2,996 votes to Linda Bennett’s 1,269 and Madison Cawthorn’s 423. But across the district, Bennett received 20,510 votes to Cawthorn’s 18,418, which put the two candidates within 2.3 percentage points. Davis finished third in the district-wide race with 17,400 votes.
“It isn’t clear if that race will result in a run-off, but if there are any federal runoffs those second primaries will happen May 12,” Tallent said.
Moe Davis easily claimed the democratic primary for the House District 11 seat. He earned 1,634 votes in Macon County compared to 603 for Gina Collias.
In the 2020 race for governor of North Carolina, incumbent democrat Roy Cooper (3,012 votes) bested challenger Ernest Reeves (461 votes). On the republican side, Dan Forest (4,927 votes) topped Holly Grange (661 votes).
The NC Senate District 50 republican primary went to Kevin Corbin with 5,026 votes in Macon County to Sarah Conway’s 693.
On the local level there were three very close races.
Josh Young claimed the republican primary for Macon County Board of Commissioners District 2 with 2,482 votes. Bryan Rauers received 1,850 votes and Terry Bradley garnered 1,239.
On the democrat side of the commissioners’ race, Betty Cloer Wallace got 1,748 votes to Olga Lampkin’s 1,409.
In the race for district court judge in District 30, Kaleb Wingate finished with 9,826 votes district-wide to defeat Jim Moore (8,475 votes).
Voter turnout in Macon County was strong, despite a slow start to one-stop early voting and cold, rainy weather on primary Election Day on Tuesday. A total of 9,583 ballots were cast, which equates to a 37.29 percent turnout. That number fell just shy of 2016’s turnout of 40 percent.
For complete election results, visit the NC State Board of Elections website at www.ncsbe.gov.