ASHEBORO – Randolph County will have at least one new county commissioner following the 2024 election.
Challenger Lester Rivenbark of Asheboro headed the Republican field in Tuesday’s primary for the District 5 seat.
Rivenbark received 8,479 votes for a safe lead on repeat commissioner candidate Chris McLeod, a Denton man who had 6,031. Incumbent Maxton McDowell of Asheboro had 4,713 votes.
Rivenbark and Democrat Jane Ledwell-Gant will be on November’s ballot.
Total turnout in Randolph County was at 24.2 percent of registered voters. There were 23,190 voters.
There was no primary for the other seat for the county commissioners on the 2024 ballot. The lone candidates for the District 1 seat are incumbent Kenny Kidd on the Republican side and William McCaskill on the Democrat line.
** For the U.S. House seat in District 9, current House member Richard Hudson had 15,643 votes in Randolph County compared to Troy Tarazon’s 2,535 for the Republican spot on the ballot.
While Hudson, who’s from Southern Pines, had 86 percent of votes in Randolph County, his total advantage was at 83.4 percent for a spot opposite Nigel Bristow, a Democrat from Hamlet.
** For governor, Randolph County voters picked Mark Robinson on 15,112 ballots – far ahead of Dale Folwell (2,617) and Bill Graham (2,074) on the Republican side.
Robinson advanced to the November ballot with 64.8 percent of the primary votes statewide.
On the Democratic ticket for governor, sitting state attorney general Josh Stein was picked on 2,014 ballots to outdistance a field that had runner-up Mike Morgan at 325.
Stein won the nomination with a statewide total of 69.7 percent.
** The lieutenant governor race was particularly close on the Republican side in Randolph County. With 11 candidates on the ballot, Hal Weatherman was tops with 3,867 and Sam Page next with 3,864.
Statewide, Weatherman was the leader with 19.6 percent and Jim O’Neill was next at 15.8 percent, though they might be headed for a special run-off in May. Page was fifth at 10.2 percent.
** Numbers for the presidential primaries, former president Donald Trump received 17,404 votes in Randolph County compared to Nikki Haley’s 2,350 on the Republican side. President Joe Biden was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.
Trump’s statewide percentage of votes was almost 74 percent compared to 86.4 percent in Randolph County.
