RALEIGH — A statewide primary runoff that drew under 132,000 voters Tuesday selected Republican candidates for lieutenant governor and state auditor and a congressional hopeful.
Hal Weatherman, the former chief of staff to then-Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, defeated Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill in the lieutenant governor’s primary. Weatherman received 95,465 votes statewide to O’Neill’s 32,825 with 99 percent of precincts reporting, according to the State Board of Elections.
Weatherman will take on Democratic state Sen. Rachel Hunt, daughter of former four-term Gov. Jim Hunt, in the fall election.
Dave Boliek, an attorney and member of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill trustee board, defeated CPA and state legislative staffer Jack Clark in the auditor’s primary.
Boliek received 66,370 votes to Clark’s 58,248 as of Wednesday morning. Boliek will take on Democratic State Auditor Jessica Holmes in November.
Polling was between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday. All but 22 of 2,659 precincts had reported statewide as of 2 p.m. Wednesday. A total of 132,207 ballots had been counted.
GOP runoff voting was open to registered Republicans and unaffiliated voters who either voted in the March Republican primaries or didn’t vote at all, the Associated Press reported.
Voting in Pitt County mirrored statewide results with 1,334 ballots cast at 40 of 40 precincts. Weatherman received 1,054 votes to O’Neill’s 278. Boliek got 749 votes to Clark’s 538.
In Greene County, 194 people voted with Weatherman garnering 146 votes to O'Niel's 47. Clark recevieved 100 votes, besting Boliek's 83.
Brad Knott, a candidate backed by former President Donald Trump, overwhelmingly won the Republican primary runoff for North Carolina’s 13th Congressional District, which was drawn in 2023 to includes areas north, east and south of Raliegh to favor GOP candidats.
The former assistant U.S. attorney defeated Kelly Daughtry, a local lawyer and the daughter of a former longtime Republican legislative leader, 19,581 votes to 1,991 votes in complete but unofficial totals. Daughtry had finished first among 14 candidates in the March 5 primary. But she failed to exceed the 30% necessary to avoid a runoff, which Knott sought as the second-place finisher.
Trump backed Knott in early April. It wasn’t until weeks later, on May 2, that Daughtry, who was also the top fundraiser in the primary largely thanks to her personal campaign loans, suspended her campaign and threw her support to her rival. But by then, early voting was well underway, and it was too late to take her name off the ballot.
Daughtry said Trump’s endorsement of Knott made clear to her “that a pathway to victory is no longer feasible.”
Knott now will take on Democrat Frank Pierce in the general election. Current 13th District Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel chose not to run for reelection, citing the boundary changes. The seat is one of three the GOP expects to add to the U.S. House from North Carolina this fall, thanks to redistricting.
Most Popular
Comments / 0