The Orange County races heated up as filing ended Feb. 28, with eight people vying for four school board seats and multiple candidates giving voters a choice in two commissioners districts.
Challengers also emerged to Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood and longtime Clerk of Superior Court Jamie Stanford, who drew a well-known opponent in former Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt.
Three incumbent school board members – Tom Carr, Michael Hood and Donna Coffey – and Orange County Commissioners Barry Jacobs and Mia Burroughs are not seeking re-election.
Former Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board member Jamezetta Bedford, who is seeking to replace Burroughs, will be unopposed in District 1. That will virtually guarantee Bedford’s election in November.
Meanwhile, three newcomers are competing to replace Jacobs, who filed for re-election to his at-large seat but then withdrew his name. The at-large candidates are former Chapel Hill Town Council member Sally Greene and Hillsborough attorneys Brian Crawford and Noah Oswald.
Commissioner Earl McKee, the lone incumbent seeking re-election to the board, faces a primary challenge from business development manager Tommy McNeill.
Early voting for this year’s primary begins Thursday, April 19. The primary election will be held Tuesday, May 8, with the winners in each party heading to the November election.
A separate filing period will be held this summer for the county’s Soil and Water District Supervisor and for district and superior court judges.
Orange County Board of Commissioners
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