District Attorney race: Incumbent Ernie Lee defeats opponent in Republican primary

Ernie Lee
Ernie Lee

In a race for the local district attorney seat, incumbent Ernie Lee is on track to keep his position after being elected as the Republican candidate following Tuesday's primary election.

Lee defeated challenger Kevin Kiernan with more than 68% of the vote, and 13,744 ballots with 72 of 73 precincts reporting before midnight for the North Carolina 5th Prosecutorial District, which includes Duplin, Jones, Onslow and Sampson counties. Kiernan had 31.15% (6,217).

"My campaign was based upon my integrity, my experience, my work ethic, my record, and a positive message," Lee said. "Although my opponent consistently went negative in his campaign, I am proud my campaign remained positive and continued with a message of experience, and a commitment to victims' rights, and commitment to protect the public."

In Onslow, 69.06% of voters picked Lee, while Kiernan got 30.94%. Lee also had more votes in Jones (76.28%), Duplin (72.25) and Sampson (63.53%) counties.

"I'm so very grateful for all those people in my four county district who had confidence in me to reelect me as their district attorney, and I will not disappoint them," Lee said.

Lee previously worked at the the Assistant District Attorney for 24 years, before winning the seat in 2010 as a Democrat. He ran as a Republican. His career also included 34 years as a career prosecutor in Onslow and other counties in the district.

"It's been a long campaign," he said. "I'm ready to get back and try my cases."

He served for more than 20 years in the U.S. Army Reserve. According to his campaign website, he is a Sunday School teacher and member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Jacksonville.

Kevin Kiernan
Kevin Kiernan

Kiernan, is one of the founding partners of Silva, Kiernan & Associates, where he spends a lot of time on criminal defense and DWI cases. Before starting the practice in, he served as prosecutor for the Fifth Prosecutorial District. In addition to service in courtrooms, he also serve as the State Bar Councilor for the Fifth District and is a member of several law-related organization.

He was unavailable for comment Tuesday night after the election.

According to Board of Elections Director Jason Dedmond, there was only a Republican primary for the district seat. He added that this does not mean there are no Democrats running and they have just been moved straight to the general election due to the lack of candidates.

All results are unofficial until the Onslow County Board of Elections vote canvass on May 27th.

The canvass ensures votes have been counted correctly and required audits have been completed. During the canvass, election officials consider challenges to votes and process provisional ballots and absentee ballots received after Election Day.

The canvass process is required by law and is held after every election, according to the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

This article originally appeared on The Daily News: District Attorney race for Onslow: Ernie Lee wins Republican primary