Judges and others file for re-election
Published 5:53 pm Wednesday, December 9, 2015
Republican Don Cox and Democrat Greg Satterthwaite have filed to seek election to the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, which has four seats available in the 2016 election cycle.
Cox ran for a seat on the board in 2014, but did not make it out of the Republican primary. He finished fourth among the five GOP candidates seeking their party’s nominations for the three available seats on the board in 2014.
Also filing this week was U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield Jr., who is seeking re-election to the U.S. Congress. Butterfield, a Democrat from Wilson, represents the state’s 1st District in the U.S. House of Representatives. Butterfield was elected to Congress in a special election in 2004.
Republicans Phil Law and Taylor Griffin have filed as candidates for the 3rd District seat in the U.S. House, currently held by fellow Republican Walter B. Jones Jr. He is in is 10th term in the U.S. House.
U.S. House candidates serve two-year terms. U.S. Senate candidates serve six-year terms.
Also seeking seats on the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners are Republicans Gary Brinn and Derik Davis and Democrats Jerry Langley and Robert Belcher. Brinn, Langley and Belcher are incumbents. Commissioners serve four-year, staggered terms.
Beaufort County School Board members Eltha Booth (District 1), F. Mac Hodges (District 5) Carolyn S. Walker (District 7) and Mike Isbell (District 9) also filed for re-election. Terry W. Draper filed as a candidate for the District 9 seat on the school board, which is nonpartisan.
Board members serve four-year, staggered terms. As of 5 p.m. Wednesday, no one had filed for the District 3 seat (now held by Barbara Boyd-Williams) on the board.
Jennifer Leggett Whitehurst, the incumbent register of deeds in Beaufort County, also filed for re-election.
This week, Michael A. Paul and Chris McLendon filed for re-election as district court judges in the 2nd Judicial District.
Among others filing for office since Dec. 1 were Judy Justice, a Dare County Democrat, and Warren Judge, a Dare County commissioner and a Democrat. Each seeks the 6th District seat in the N.C. House of Representatives now held by Paul Tine, an unaffiliated legislator who is not seeking re-election. Washington resident Ashley Woolard, a Republican, also filed for the District 6 seat. The district includes part of Beaufort County and all of Dare and Washington counties.
Republican Michael Speciale is seeking re-election as the representative from District 3 in the state House. The district includes part of Beaufort County, part of Craven County and all of Pamlico County.
Sen. Bill Cook, a Republican who represents District 1 in the N.C. Senate, filed for re-election last week.
Cook, who lives in Beaufort County, is in his second term in the state Senate. Previously, he served one term in the N.C. House of Representatives. District 1 includes Beaufort, Hyde, Dare, Currituck, Gates, Camden, Pasquotank and Perquimans counties.
Races for U.S. Senate, governor and Council of State and General Assembly seats are on the ballot. There are also elections for Congress, state judgeships and scores of county positions. The U.S. presidential election also takes place in 2016.
The filing period for candidates seeking seats on a county’s soil-and-water conservation board begins at noon June 13, 2016, and ends at noon July 1, 2016.