Primary deadline passes with no more candidates
By Steve Herring
Published in News on March 2, 2014 1:50 AM
Voters who go to the polls for the May 6 primary will find a ballot heavy with national, and to a lesser degree, state races, but offering no battles on the county level.
After a flurry of activity on the first day of filing on Feb. 10, no county candidates filed over the final seven days of the filing period, which ended at noon Friday.
There were not enough local filings to create primaries in the handful of Wayne County offices up for election in the Nov. 4 general election.
Even then, most of those candidates do not have any opposition.
On the state level, only District 5 Sen. Don Davis, D-Greene, faces a primary challenge. Also filing were Tony Moore of Winterville and Henry Williams II of Greenville.
There is no Republican opposition in November.
Republican District 7 Sen. Louis Pate of Mount Olive does not have any opposition in May, but does in November, when he will be challenged by Democrat Erik Anderson of Winterville.
District 4 Rep. Jimmy Dixon (R) of Mount Olive, District 10 Rep. John R. Bell (R) of Goldsboro and District 21 Rep. Larry Bell (D) of Clinton are unopposed in the primary and the general election.
Wayne County Commissioner Ed Cromartie of Mount Olive was the only candidate to file for the unexpired District 2 term.
Cromartie, a Democrat, was appointed by commissioners to fill the first two years of the unexpired term of the late J.D. Evans.
Evans was re-elected in 2012, but died shortly after having been sworn in.
State law requires that an election be held for the final two years.
Clerk of Superior Court Pam Minshew (D) of Princeton is unopposed in her re-election bid.
Four seats on the nonpartisan Wayne County Board of Education are up this year.
Two candidates filed in District 1, incumbent Chris West of Pikeville and Phillip J. Sexton of Goldsboro and in District 4, incumbent John Grantham of the Grantham community and Jennifer Smith Strickland of Goldsboro.
According to state law, "If only one or two candidates file for a single office, no primary shall be held for that office and the candidates shall be declared nominated."
That is the case for the school board and those candidates will face off in November.
Arnold Flowers of Seven Springs, District 5, and Rick Pridgen of Goldsboro, District 6, have no opposition.
Sheriff Larry Pierce (R) of Goldsboro filed for election as did Glenn Barnes (D) of Goldsboro.
Pierce was appointed by commissioners in February to complete the unexpired term of Sheriff Carey Winders who died unexpectedly on Jan. 24.
There is no primary for the district attorney's office for the 8th Judicial District. DA Branny Vickory did not seek re-election.
Republican Matthew Delbridge of Goldsboro will face Democrat Terry Light of Goldsboro in November.