Blount’s Creek resident to run for seat on county commission

Another Democratic candidate for one of the four seats up for grabs on the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners this election cycle filed to run Wednesday.

Wayne Sawyer, a Blount’s Creek resident, brings to six the number of Democrats who will face one another in the May 8 primary to become their party’s nominees for the four available seats on the Board of Commissioners.

Seven Republican candidates for the available seats on the Board of Commissioners also will square off in the May 8 primary to become their party’s nominees.

The top four vote-getters in the GOP primary will take on the top four vote-getters in the Democratic primary in the Nov. 6 general elections.

In addition to Sawyer, other Democrats seeking seats on the Board of Commissioners are Lloyd Balance, Robert Belcher, Mickey Cochran, Carolyn Harding and Jerry Langley, who is an incumbent and chairman of that board.

The seven Republicans seeking seats on that board are Gary Brinn, Larry Britt, Donald Dixon, Rick Gagliano, Tony Keech Jr., Jay McRoy and Hood Richardson. McRoy and Richardson are incumbents.

Incumbent Eltha Booth is unopposed in her re-election bid to represent District 1 on the Beaufort County Board of Education.

Incumbent Barbara Boyd-Williams is unopposed in her re-election bid to represent District 3 on the Beaufort County Board of Education.

School-board Chairman F. Mac Hodges faces opposition in his re-election bid to represent District 5 from David Daniel and Proctor Kidwell.

In the District 7 race, Bill Sprenkle and Carolyn Walker are seeking to replace Belcher, the candidate for a seat on the Board of Commissioners. Belcher opted not to seek re-election to the school board.

Mike Isbell is unopposed in his re-election bid to represent District 9 on the school board.

The school-board races are nonpartisan. They won’t be on the May 8 primary ballot, but will appear on ballots for the Nov. 6 general elections.

Other Beaufort County residents have filed as candidates for other offices.

In Beaufort County, Register of Deeds Jennifer Leggett Whitehurst is unopposed in her re-election bid.

Former state Rep. Arthur Williams, unseated in the 2010 election by Rep. Bill Cook, a Republican and Chocowinity resident, is running in the state House District 6 race as a Republican. Williams changed his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican in 2011.

He faces a challenge in the May 8 Republican primary from Mattie Lawson and Jeremy Adams, both from Dare County.

Democrat Paul Tine, a Dare County resident, is the lone Democrat seeking the District 6 seat. He will take on the winner of the GOP primary.

Robert B. Cayton, a Beaufort County commissioner and Aurora resident, is running to represent District 3 in the state House instead of seeking re-election to the county board.

Republican Wayne Langston, a Chocowinity resident, is a candidate for the District 3 seat in the state House, as are Republicans Michael Speciale of New Bern and Clayton Tripp of Vanceboro. Those three face one another in the May 8 primary, with the winner taking on Cayton in the Nov. 6 general election.

Washington resident Jerry Evans and Cook, both Republicans, are seeking to represent Senate District 1 in the N.C. General Assembly. That seat in currently held by Sen. Stan White, a Dare County Democrat who is seeking re-election.

White will face either Cook or Evans in the Nov. 6 general election.