The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • B5

THURSDAY NOVEMBER 5 2020 THE NEWS 5B Republican candidates won all five contested seats on the North Car- olina Court of Appeals and a seat on the state Su- preme Court, and led Wednesday in tight races for two more Supreme Court seats. Judge Paul Newby pulled ahead of Chief Justice Cheri Beasley by fewer than 4,000 votes out of nearly 5.4 million votes cast late in the eve- ning Tuesday in the race for the top seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court. Newby, the only Repub- lican on the Supreme Court, had just a bit more than of the vote with all precincts reporting. Newby prepared to make a statement due to the number of outstanding ballots yet to be counted, wrote David Osborne, campaign coor- dinator, in an email Wednesday morning. of thousands of North Carolinians still have not had their votes counted and we are mak- ing sure that every vote is tallied and every voice is heard.

Once we have counted every ballot we are confident about the outcome of this wrote Beasley campaign manager Benjamin Woods in an email. There are 117,000 out- standing absentee by-mail ballots, according to the state elections board. They must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by Nov. 12 to be counted. Newby has been on the Supreme Court since 2004.

Beasley is the first Afri- can American woman to serve as chief justice in the state. She served as an associate judge for seven years before Gov. Roy Cooper appointed her as chief justice in 2019. NC SUPREME COURT RACES, SEAT 2 AND 3 Two Court of Appeals judges, Republican Phil Berger Jr. and Democrat Lucy Inman, faced off for associate justice Seat 2.

Berger had nearly and led the race by more than 74,000 votes. As of Wednesday after- noon, campaign conceded. officials are rightfully focused on counting every eligible vote now. Counting re- quires said Claire Hagan, with In- campaign. Inman was elected to the Court of Appeals in 2014 after serving four years as a special superior court judge appointed by then-Gov.

Beverly Perdue. Berger, the son of state Senate leader Phil Berger, was elected to the appel- late court in 2016 after serving as an adminis- trative law judge for two years and a district at- torney for eight years for Rockingham County. Republican Tamara Barringer, an associate professor at UNC-Chapel Kenan-Flagler Busi- ness School, won the third race with more than of the vote or more than 130,000 votes. Barringer challenged Mark Davis, who was appointed to the Supreme Court by Cooper to fill the vacancy left by chief justice appointment. Davis served on the Court of Appeals for seven years after serving as general counsel to Perdue for two years and as a special deputy attorney general for five years.

Barringer, who lives in Cary, was a state senator for eight years until she lost her reelection bid in 2018. The Supreme Court currently has six Demo- crats and one Republican, Newby. If all Republican candidates win, Demo- majority would shrink to a 4-3 split. The court includes one chief justice and six asso- ciate justices who serve eight-year terms. The court decides whether challenged laws should be struck down and sets prec- edents for a variety of legal issues that affect criminal trials, child custo- dy battles, business liabil- ity and other issues.

Cases expected to come before the Supreme Court include a challenge to the program that seeks to expand school choice through private school vouchers; voter redistrict- ing; and death penalty litigation. The six candidates raised more than $6.7 million in the three races as of Monday. Beasley raised the most, bringing in nearly $2 million, more than twice that of chal- lenger Newby. In total, Democratic Supreme Court candidates raised $4.5 million com- pared to the $2.2 million. COURT OF APPEALS Republican candidates swept all five of the 15 Court of Appeals seats up for election.

The court hears most of the appeals from the district and super- ior courts. Unlike the Supreme Court races, the leading candidates held leads of 124,000 votes or more. Unofficial results showed: ARepublican April Wood, a District Court judge from Davidson County, won Seat 4 with nearly of the vote against Democrat Tricia Shields, an attorney and Campbell University Law School instructor. ADistrict Court Judge Fred Gore, a Republican from Brunswick County, won Seat 5 with more than of the vote against Democrat Lora Christine Cubbage, a Guilford County Superior Court judge. A Incumbent Republican Judge Chris Dillon won Seat 6 with of the vote against Gray Styers, a Democrat and Raleigh attorney.

AUnion County Super- ior Court Judge Jeff Car- penter, a Republican, unseated Judge Reuben Young, a Democrat who was appointed by Cooper in 2019. Carpenter had nearly of the vote in the Seat 7 race. A Jefferson Griffin, a Republican and Wake County District Court judge, unseated Judge Chris Brook, a Democrat appointed by Cooper in 2019, to win Seat 13 with more than of the vote. The court, which cur- rently has eight Demo- crats and seven Repub- licans, will shift to a Re- publican majority with a 10-4 split or 11-3 split, depending on whether Berger or Inman moves up to the Supreme Court and leaves one seat open. Newby leads Beasley in race for state chief justice BY VIRGINIA BRIDGES ELECTION 2020 Cheri Beasley Paul Newby RALEIGH Two new faces will join five incumbents on the Wake County Board of Commissioners after election.

Nearly half of Wake County registered voters cast ballots early for state and federal candidates, along with those running for county commissioner and the register of deeds. A total of 373,577 people voted early, or about of the total number of people registered to vote in Wake County. are the results in some of Wake local races. WAKE COUNTY COMMISSIONER All seven seats on the Wake County Board of Commissioners were up, and at least two newcom- ers were guaranteed to serve on the board. The county is broken into districts.

Candidates must live in their districts but are voted on by the entire county. The commissioners set the property tax rate and approve an annual budget that funds schools, the office, health department, social serv- ices, emergency medical services, parks and more. They also direct the coun- ty-level COVID-19 re- sponse and regulations. Democrats will main- tain their hold on the board. Incumbents Matt Ca- labria, Susan Evans and James West were all un- opposed and will remain on the board.

Commissioner Jessica Holmes was the Demo- cratic nominee for the N.C. Secretary of Labor and so seek re- election for her District 3 seat. Commissioner Chair- man Greg Ford asked to be removed from the ballot this past summer because he plans to move out of the county in early 2021. The Wake County Democratic Party lead- ership nominated a re- placement for the District 6 seat. District 1: This was a re- match from 2018 when incumbent Sig Hutchinson defeated Greg Jones.

Hutchinson has served on the board since 2014. Hutchinson said he plans to remain focused on transit and creating more transportation op- tions for Wake County. healthy com- munities by focusing on the social determinants of health, affordable housing and mental he said. With all 206 precincts reporting: AHutchinson, 67, a Democrat and founder of Sig Hutchinson Communi- cations, had 370,189 votes or A Jones, 53, a Repub- lican, and industrial con- tractor and small business owner, had 228,176 votes or District 3: Maria Cervania defeated a Democratic primary challenger and faced Republican Steve Hale. Neither had been elected to office in North Carolina.

Cervania said she considering herself the winner until every vote is counted, but plans to fo- cus on the CO- VID-19 response if she is elected. With all 206 precincts reporting: ACervania, 52, a Demo- crat, and biostatistician and consultant, had 360,730 votes or AHale, 68, a Repub- lican, and a criminal de- fense investigator, had 234,781 votes or District 6: Shinica Tho- mas and Karen Weathers were political newcomers who had not been elected to office in North Car- olina. am excited and I worked really Tho- mas said. got into this race in July and August to replace Greg Ford and I had as much time as my opponent or the other candidates, so I am really excited about the money we were able to raise and the work my team has been able to She plans to focus on public education, affor- dable housing and eco- nomic development in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. With all 206 precincts reporting: AThomas, 46, a Demo- crat and director of ad- vocacy and educational partnerships for Girl Scouts North Carolina Coastal Pines, had 353,344 votes or AWeathers, 51, a Re- publican, and business owner, had 240,488 votes or District 7: Vickie Adam- son, who was elected to the county board in 2018, faced political newcomer Faruk Okcetin.

She thanked voters for her win and said she plans to keep focusing on educa- tion, housing and human services. With all 206 precincts reporting: AAdamson, 59, a Dem- ocrat, had 369,928 votes or AOkcetin, 48, a Repub- lican, and small business owner, had 222,547 votes or REGISTER OF DEEDS Democrat Tammy Brun- ner unseated the incum- bent Register of Deeds. Charles Gilliam was appointed Register of Deeds in 2017 after Laura Reddick, the former regis- ter of deeds, pleaded guilty to stealing nearly $1 million from the office. The Register of Deeds office is responsible for recording important legal documents like death and birth certificates, marriage licenses and property deeds. With all 206 precincts reporting: ABrunner, 53, a Demo- crat and recruiter, had 355,264 votes or AGilliam, 70, a Repub- lican incumbent and form- er District Court judge, had 239,287 votes or SOIL AND WATER One candidate was chosen in this non-parti- san position.

With all 206 precincts reporting: AM.C. Brook, 70, a semi-retired writer re- ceived 36,012 votes or A Jean-Luc Duvall, 27, a conservation field orga- nizer, received 101,018 votes or AMarshall Harvey, 75, who is retired, received 167,185 votes or A Scott Lassiter, 33, an assistant principal, re- ceived 184,830 votes or NC DISTRICT COURT JUDGE DISTRICT 10F, SEAT 2 With all 26 precincts reporting: ATim Gunther, 61, a Democrat and lawyer, had 59,085 votes or ABeth Tanner, 37, a Republican, and associate director of the N.C. In- nocence Inquiry Commis- sion, had 45,918 votes or Anna Johnson: 919-829-4807, 2 newcomers to be commissioners in Wake County BY ANNA JOHNSON Wake County voters largely re-elected school board incumbents, turning aside an effort by conser- vative challengers to re- shape North largest school system. Unofficial election re- sults on Tuesday show that only one member of a coalition of six Repub- lican-backed candidates lead incumbents in their respective races. The chal- lengers had argued the district was moving too slow on reopening schools and was promoting a liberal agenda in schools.

Initial results have board members Heather Scott, Monika Johnson- Hostler, Chris Heagarty and Lindsay Mahaffey winning in their respective contested races. Board member Jim Martin also won his race against a write-in candidate. But Karen Carter de- feated longtime board member Bill Fletcher for the District 9 seat that includes much of Cary. Carter had 54.4% of the vote compared to 34.9% for Fletcher. In addition to cam- paigning about school reopening, Carter had questioned deci- sion to use the contro- versial MVP Math curricu- lum in high school classes.

Board chairman Keith Sutton, vice chairwoman Roxie Cash and board member Christine Kushn- er were running unop- posed in their races. The election results indicate that the officially non-partisan nine-mem- ber school board will re- tain its Democratic major- ity, with now seven Demo- crats and two Republicans. The closest race was in northwest Dis- trict 7, where Heagarty had 51.2% of the vote compared to for challenger Rachel Mills. In a three-way race in south- ern District 2, Johnson-Hostler had of the vote. Not including the write- in campaign against Mar- tin, Mahaffey had the biggest margin of victory in the southwest Wake District 8 race.

She had 62.3% compared to 36.8% for Steve Bergstrom. In eastern Dis- trict 1, Scott had 55.7% of the vote to defeat former board member Deborah Prickett, who had 42.9% of the vote. SCHOOL REOPENING DEBATED Wake is the larg- est school district with 160,000 students. It brief- ly had a Republican school board majority after the 2009 election. But after two years of heated de- bate and protests, the board flipped back to a Democratic majority that has grown as the county has shifted politically and demographically.

The challengers, though, had hoped to turn the campaign into a refer- endum on how the public feels about school re- opening. Some Wake elementary students and special-edu- cation students returned to in-person classes last week for the first time since March 13. But the majority of Wake students will either get limited or no in-person instruction this semester due to con- tinuing concerns over COVID-19. The tentative plan is to wait until the spring se- mester that starts in Jan- uary to begin offering at least some in-person instruction to all students, aside from those in the Virtual Academy. The challengers said push the pace on reopening to bring back as soon as possible all stu- dents who want in-person classes.

But the incum- bents argued they had adopted a compromise plan to safely bring some students back while re- specting the concerns of some teachers who feel safe yet to have in-person classes. Despite complaints from Wake NCAE that the district is reopening too fast, the group had backed the board incumbents in the election. Some mem- bers of the group hope Wake will slow the pace on reopening after multiple schools reported COVID-19 cases since last week. T. Keung Hui: 919-829-4534, From left to right, Wake County school board members Heather Scott, Monika Johnson-Hostler, Chris Heagarty and Lindsay Mahaffey and challenger Karen Carter were leading in their races based on initial election results.

Most Wake County school board members hold off challengers BY T. KEUNG HUI.