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Two-term incumbent Bertie County Commissioner Ronald (Ron) Wesson greatly improved his chances for a third term here Tuesday.

According to the unofficial results from the March 3 Primary, Wesson claimed nearly 65 percent of the vote as he easily defeated challenger Pamela Chamblee. Both are Democrats from Windsor.

Wesson, who was first elected in 2012 and subsequently in 2016, received 2,029 votes compared to 1,148 for Chamblee.

In posting the lopsided win, Wesson topped the voting in all but two of the county’s 12 precincts. His largest margins came in the Windsor 1 (346-148) and Indian Woods (62-17) precincts.

Chamblee’s largest vote total came in the Colerain 1 precinct. There, she defeated Wesson by a 64-27 margin.

Wesson was also heavily favored during the One-Stop early voting. He collected 788 votes by that method compared to 381 for Chamblee.

By a narrow margin, Bertie County voters approved the implementation of a quarter-cent sales and use tax. The unofficial tally was 2,020 in favor and 1,866 opposed. That measure had been defeated in two previous elections (2014 and 2018).

For 2020, the voting was extremely close, with an even split of the 12 precincts voting for or against. On election day (March 3) alone, the measure was defeated by a razor-close 1,266 to 1,258 tally. It was the One-Stop early voting that swung the tide in favor of the measure where it gained 754 votes compared to 595 in opposition.

Now approved, the measure brings the state sales tax to 7 percent in Bertie County.

In other election news from Tuesday’s Primary, Bertie voters joined in with the rest of the state in favoring Joe Biden and Donald Trump as presidential nominees for their respective political parties.

Biden, a Democrat, was a runaway winner over 14 others on the ballot as Bertie voters approved him by nearly a 57 percent margin. Biden received 1,794 votes in Bertie. The next closest challenger was Bernie Sanders with 508 votes.

On the Republican side, President Donald Trump was the overwhelming favorite among Bertie voters. Trump received 729 votes, which represented nearly 98 percent of the ballots cast.

Bertie voters also overwhelmingly supported incumbent Governor Roy Cooper (2,725 votes) to move to November’s General Election. There, Cooper will face current Lt. Governor Dan Forest who earned the Republican nomination. In Bertie County, Forest received nearly 94 percent of the vote in defeating challenger Holly Grange, 686 to 45.

In the race for the Lt. Governor nomination, Bertie voters heavily supported Allen Thomas (a Democrat with 1,706 votes) and Mark Robinson (a Republican with 254 votes).

Statewide, Yvonne Lewis Holley (Democrat) and Robinson led the balloting for Lt. Governor. Holley was the second favorite candidate in Bertie.

Voter turnout in Bertie was listed at 31.59 percent as 4,049 of the county’s 12,816 registered voters cast ballots during the Primary election.