New commissioners complete journey
Published 10:12 am Thursday, November 10, 2016
JACKSON – On Tuesday, Geneva N. Riddick and Charles R. Tyner Sr. finished what they started eight months ago.
The duo will be sworn in next month after respectively earning the District 2 and District 1 seats on the Northampton County Board of Commissioners.
In the March Primary, Riddick and Tyner defeated incumbent county commissioners Virginia Spruill and Joseph Barrett to advance to the November general election.
When the unofficial Nov. 8 numbers were released Tuesday night by the Northampton County Board of Elections, Riddick led the way with 6,906 votes. Tyner, meanwhile, collected 6,901 votes.
Also running unopposed was incumbent Northampton County Register of Deeds Robin Phillips Williams. This was her first election since being appointed to the seat three years ago. She received 7,054 votes.
William M. Stephenson was unopposed in his bid for another term as a Northampton County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor. He earned that seat with 7,055 votes.
As expected in the federal and state races, Northampton voters favored Democratic candidates.
For President of the United States, Hillary Clinton led the Northampton balloting with 6,113 votes. President-Elect Donald Trump was named on 3,556 ballots in the county while Gary Johnson received 92 votes.
In the race for U.S. Senate, Deborah Ross (6,030 votes) won Northampton over incumbent and eventual winner Richard Burr (3,487).
Roy Cooper (6,069 votes) was the choice for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory (3,590). Statewide, that race narrowly favors Cooper, but there are thousands of provisional ballots yet to be counted in all 100 counties.
Linda Coleman was the county’s favorite for Lt. Governor. She was named on 6,019 ballots in Northampton, but lost the statewide battle to incumbent Dan Forest, who gained 3,395 votes in the county.
Northampton voters also gave the edge to Josh Stein (6,224 votes) over Buck Newton (3,231) for NC Attorney General; incumbent NC Auditor Beth Wood over Chuck Stuber (6,431-to-2,911); Walter Smith over incumbent State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler (5,937-to-3,535); and incumbent NC Commissioner of Insurance Wayne Goodwin over Mike Causey (6,295-to-3,057).
Other top choices among Northampton voters were Charles Meeker over incumbent NC Commissioner of Labor Cherie Berry (6,059-to-3,279); incumbent Secretary of State Elaine Marshall over Michael LaPaglia (6,485-to-2,880); incumbent NC Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson over Mark Johnson (6,341-to-3,023); and Dan Blue III over Dale R. Folwell (6,081-to-3,264) for NC Treasurer.
Of Northampton’s 14,894 register voters, 9,838 (66.05%) cast ballots in the general election.
All results will be certified by the Northampton County Board of Elections during a canvass scheduled for Nov. 18.