Runoff election Tuesday
HENDERSON — Republican voters ought to get out to the polls on Tuesday — two races have yet to be decided.
Jim O’Neill and Hal Weatherman are on the ballot for lieutenant governor, a position with responsibilities on the Council of State, the Capital Planning Commission and several education boards.
On his website, O’Neill, currently on his fourth term as Forsyth County district attorney, advertises himself as a tough-on-crime candidate. He wants to create a panel of law enforcement officials and mental health experts from the private and public sectors that would create a list of “legislative remedies for the General Assembly to address,” that would ultimately combat mental illness.
He also wants to curb substance abuse and expand state-mandated security from public schools to private schools as well.
Weatherman’s campaign has a focus on optimism, his website reads. He wants to cut what he sees as cultural agendas from schools and have them focus on teaching essential skills.
He also wants to see armed resource officers in every elementary, middle and high school, according to his website.
The soon-to-be former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson gave up his seat to run for governor. He’s going head-to-head against Josh Stein, who gave up his attorney generalship, this fall.
Whoever wins will run against Democratic primary winner Rachel Hunt, who herself won by a whopping 360,000-some votes against runner-up Ben Clark.
Dee Watson is running on the Libertarian ticket.
Meanwhile, Dave Boliek and Jack Clark are going toe-to-toe for the position of state auditor.
Boliek is a fulltime budgeteer, as a campaign ad jokes — he is shown carefully counting eggs, as his wife comments that he “runs a tight ship.”
Formerly the chairman of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Board of Trustees, he railed against “woke diversity and equity policies” while working to create a new School of Civic Life and Leadership, advertised as a program focused on open and civil debate.
Formerly a Democrat, he switched part affiliation last June, citing that he felt more in tune with the GOP than his former party of choice.
On the other side, Clark says he’s the “only qualified candidate” in the race — he is a certified public accountant.
Clark, on his website, writes that he won’t make any promises on what entity he’ll audit first — an auditor who does so would be biased and thus encouraged to find things that don’t exist. He has experience in audits, as well — he took a course about them in the process of becoming a CPA, focused his master’s degree on audits.
As an accountant, he’s an audit specialist — as opposed to taxes, financial reporting or business, according to his website.
Auditor Jessica Holmes succeeded Beth Wood after she stepped down in 2023. Wood pled guilty to using a state-owned vehicle for private purposes, a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Holmes will run under the Democratic ticket and Bob Drach, the Libertarian ticket.
The auditor investigates misuse of tax dollars.
Polls open at 6:30 a.m. and remain so until 7:30 p.m.
Precincts and their polling places are as follows —
* Community College — Vance Granville Community College, 200 Community College Road
* East Henderson 1 — Advance Academy, 219 Charles Street
* Hilltop — St. James Baptist Church, 3005 Highway 158 Bypass
* Kittrell — Kittrell Fire Station, 54 West Main Street
* Middleburg — E.O. Young Elementary School, U.S. 1 North
* New Hope — New Hope Elementary School, 10199 N.C. Highway 39 North
* North Henderson 1 — County Office Building, 305 Young Street and Walnut Street
* Northern Vance — Northern Vance Middle School, 293 Warrenton Road
* Sandy Creek — Aycock Recreation Complex, 307 Carey Chapel Road
* South Henderson 1 — H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library, 205 Breckenridge Street
* South Henderson 2 — L.B. Yancey Elementary School, 311 Hawkins Drive
* West Henderson — Central Fire Station, 211 Dabney Drive
