Recount possible in tight race for Orange County commissioner; incumbent ousted
Orange County voters chose two challengers who pledged to spend more money repairing local schools to join the Board of County Commissioners.
Amy Fowler easily took the at-large commissioners seat from her incumbent opponent Mark Marcoplos, while Jean Hamilton secured one of two District 1 seats representing southern Orange County.
In the fight for the second District 1 seat, incumbent Commissioners Chair Penny Rich finished just nine votes ahead of incumbent Commissioner Mark Dorosin, creating the possibility of a recount after the election results are certified on March 13.
Dorosin had not contacted the local elections office Wednesday to ask about a recount, director Rachel Raper said. The News & Observer tried to reach Dorosin by text and phone Wednesday and is waiting for a reply.
With no Republicans running for commissioner in the general election, the top vote getters in Tuesday’s Democratic primary are the presumptive winners in November.
Voters also elected a new District Court 15B judge.
At-large race
With all 41 precincts reporting, Fowler, a Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board member, had 77.54% of the vote in the at-large commissioners race. Her opponent Marcoplos had 22.46%.
Fowler, celebrating Tuesday night in Chapel Hill, said she felt “pretty confident” she might win but was shocked by her margin of victory: 30,435 votes to Marcoplos’ 8,814 votes.
“I think (the school needs) apparently resonated with folks,” she said. “Clearly, it’s not the only issue, but I do think it’s time to pay attention to it and really come up with a plan. I think it’s just time for a group of commissioners who will collaborate and work well together and be transparent and listen to the people, and that is what I hope to do.”
The outcome was a “huge disappointment” for Marcoplos, he said, because of the many years that he served the county, and because of what he, Rich and Dorosin have been able to accomplish that “hardly anybody in the county really knows about.”
Marcoplos blamed his defeat in part on two Chapel Hill-based political action committees: the Chapel Hill Alliance for a Livable Town and Save Orange Schools.
“It was a very calculated, divisive campaign that worked,” he said, “and I think it’s a warning to all of us in Orange County that our progressive values that we’ve come to be known for are in danger when these kind of campaigns can work.”
At-large commissioners represent all Orange County residents.
District 1 race
In District 1, which represents southern Orange County and had two open seats, former Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board member Jean Hamilton had 37.73% of the vote, with all 24 precincts reporting.
Hamilton was followed by Rich, who trailed her opponents in early results before garnering 31.15% of the vote, just ahead of Dorosin with 31.12%.
The final tally left Hamilton with 14,991 votes and Rich with 12,374 votes. Dorosin finished with 12,365 votes.
The seven-member board will swear in the top two vote-getters in District 1 and the winners in District 2 and the at-large district in December. District 2 Commissioner Renee Price, who represents the northern part of the county, is unopposed in the race for a third term on the board.
The Orange County Board of Elections reported that 22,313 ballots were cast during the early voting period this year — roughly 2,300 more than were cast in early voting for the March 2016 presidential primary.
Schools were a key issue
County commissioners set the county budget and property tax rates, allocate money to schools, social services and public safety, and make policies affecting services, the local economy and more for years to come.
A key issue in both Fowler and Hamilton’s campaigns was how to channel more county money into fixing local schools, many of which are decades old and in disrepair. A political action committee, Save Orange Schools, formed to advocate for the women’s election.
The county’s two school systems are spending the last of a $120 million bond that addressed about a third of the identified repairs and renovations needed by 2024. Last month, the city and county school boards presented the commissioners with a slate of options for meeting the remaining needs.
Those options ranged in cost from up to $141.3 million to make general repairs and upgrades, to nearly $500 million for long-term repairs and renovations that also could add more elementary school classrooms and reduce future maintenance and operation costs.
District Court judge
Hathaway Pendergrass was elected from a field of four candidates Tuesday to replace Judge Jay Bryan in District Court 15B.
Bryan is stepping down after reaching the state’s mandatory retirement age of 72.
Pendergrass ended the night, as all 41 precincts were reported, with 54.84%, or 20,460 votes.
Erika Bales was next with 8,430 votes, or 22.60%, followed by Lamar Proctor with 5,543 votes, or 14.86%.
A fourth candidate, Noah Oswald, garnered 2,874 votes, or 7.70% of the votes cast.
Bales challenged the election earlier this week after the N.C. Board of Elections said she would not become the Democratic nominee in November if she won the local primary race for judge. Bales is registered as an unaffiliated voter but had filed to run as a Democrat.
On Thursday, Bales filed an election protest with the county Board of Elections over the state’s decision. She also filed a “complaint for declaratory and injunctive relief” Monday in Wake County Superior Court.
Bales has said she made a mistake by improperly filing as a Democrat in December for the District Court 15B judge’s seat but that the local and state boards of elections also bear some responsibility. Both boards certified her as a Democratic candidate before placing her on the ballot.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 8:40 PM with the headline "Recount possible in tight race for Orange County commissioner; incumbent ousted."
