He had past charges and little money. But he campaigned around the state — and won.

Voters weren’t swayed Tuesday by the past criminal charges against Anthony Street, a candidate for state auditor who secured the Republican nomination with 56% of the vote.

Street, a Brunswick County Soil and Water board member, spent very little money on his campaign but said his extensive travel helped him win. The state Republican Party so far isn’t commenting on Street’s surprise victory.

“I had traveled to every part of the state to attend every GOP event I could make it too,” Street said. “People saw my work ethic and it’s the same work ethic I will have if I get to take the office of state auditor.”

Court records showed 38-year-old Street was put on probation in connection with a 2018 stalking charge — his second. He has been accused of simple assault, refusing to obey orders from police, causing a scene at a concert, and threatening a man’s family over money. He has not been convicted on the criminal charges — which are misdemeanors and date back to 2012 — but was given a conditional discharge on the stalking charge that included six months of unsupervised probation.

“All of these charges in your news story have been dismissed and I have, obviously, not yet, I should have had my record expunged,” Street said. Street would not commit to an answer on whether he deserved any of his charges.

Jeff Hauser, a spokesman for the NC Republican Party, did not return a phone message or two email messages from the NC Insider seeking comment about whether the party supports Street’s nomination.

Street ran against Republican attorney Tim Hoegemeyer for the nomination. Hoegemeyer, who was home with the flu, said he didn’t want to speculate or play “Monday morning quarterback” as to why he didn’t win. “In the end, Anthony worked really hard and had a several month head start on me, and I believe that proved to be the difference,” Hoegemeyer wrote in a text message to the Insider.

Street won the primary while raising less than $1,500, according to campaign finance reports. At one point he gave himself a $60,000 loan but reimbursed himself the money a few weeks later before spending it. Hoegemeyer raised nearly $12,000 during his campaign.

Hoegemeyer worked for incumbent Democrat Beth Wood until deciding to run against her. She faced another former employee, Luis Toledo, for the Democratic nomination and won. On Thursday, Toledo wrote a string of Twitter messages calling out the Republican Party for nominating Street over “his republican opponent who was a certified fraud examiner who worked in the auditor’s office for twelve years.”

Toledo continued that “audits should always be independent, objective and nonpartisan,” before asking people to vote for his opponent. “There is no doubt that our current State Auditor, Beth Wood, maintains this nonpartisan approach in the work of the auditor’s office,” Toledo tweeted. “In 2020, I ask you join me in supporting Beth Wood’s re-election campaign.”

Street said he is ready to take on Beth Wood and has a plan to campaign for the general election that he did not yet want to share. He did say that if he becomes auditor, he will work for all citizens regardless of party affiliation.

Street said Thursday he is running to bring transparency and accountability to the auditor’s office.

“I’m working on the simple idea that taxpayers of North Carolina deserve to know where their tax dollars are being spent,” Street said. “I feel like there is not enough communication from the auditor’s office with the citizens of North Carolina. You seldom hear anything out of that office and I want to drastically and dramatically change how much you hear out of that office.”

Hoegemeyer won a majority of votes in urban counties and several others, including Wake, Mecklenburg, Durham and Guilford, while Street had a majority in all other counties. Street’s name appeared first on the ballot, which political scientists say can give a candidate a slight advantage in low-information races.

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This story was originally published March 6, 2020 at 5:04 PM with the headline "He had past charges and little money. But he campaigned around the state — and won.."