Marshall sweeps R-C area

Published 10:32 am Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Just as she did during the May Primary, Elaine Marshall was the top choice among Democrats statewide. This time, however, she stands alone.

In Tuesday’s run-off election, Marshall captured nearly 60 percent of the vote, easily outdistancing Cal Cunningham in a race to see which North Carolina Democrat will face incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Richard Burr in November’s General Election.

Marshall, currently in the midst of her fourth term as North Carolina Secretary of State, swept all four counties in the Roanoke-Chowan area.

According to the unofficial statewide numbers from the June 22 run-off, Marshall collected 94,672 votes (59.93 percent). Cunningham, a former State Senator from Lexington, was named on 63,290 ballots (40.07 percent).

In the May election, Marshall led six candidates for the nomination. She tallied 154,605 votes compared to 115,851 for Cunningham. However, neither of the top two candidates received the necessary 40 percent of the vote, forcing a run-off.

Turnout was light across the state on Tuesday where less than five percent of North Carolina voters cast ballots in the run-off. That trend was also noted in the Roanoke-Chowan area. Listed below are Tuesday’s unofficial numbers from the Marshall-Cunningham election in each of the four R-C area counties:

Bertie

(3.94% turnout)

Marshall – 254

Cunningham – 237

Gates

(4.46% turnout)

Marshall – 197

Cunningham – 93

Hertford

(4.0% turnout)

Marshall – 353

Cunningham – 164

Northampton

(6.3% turnout)

Marshall – 507

Cunningham – 337

In defeat, Cunningham threw his support behind Marshall.

“I just called Secretary Marshall and offered her my complete and unequivocal support in the campaign to beat Richard Burr this fall,” Cunningham said in a press release. “I commend her for running an extremely impressive campaign, one that has shown tenacity and grit. She has overcome some tremendous odds to show North Carolinians the type of character that we would expect of our next U.S. Senator.”