ROCKINGHAM — Candidates for the Richmond County Board of Commissioners will face off in their respective parties’ primaries in March.
When filing for the 2020 election closed at noon Friday, there were nine candidates on the list: Democrats Jimmy Capps, Michael Legrand, Susan Bruce, Kevin Clark and Dewey Brower; and Republicans Jeff Smart, Lee Berry, Andy Grooms and James Entwistle.
Elections Director Connie Kelly said the field will be narrowed down in the primaries to three candidates from each party, who will vie for three seats on the board.
Unaffiliated candidate T.J. Davenport will have to collect 4% of the total number of registered voters on Jan. 1. Based on current numbers, he will need at least 1,116 signatures by noon on March 3.
The only other local race that will have a primary is the one for the N.C. House of Representatives.
Richmond County Commissioner Ben Moss will face Montgomery County’s Joey Davis in the Republican primary to decide who will face Rep. Scott Brewer.
Brewer was appointed to the seat earlier this year to fill the remaining term of Ken Goodman, who was appointed to the state Industrial Commission.
Davis secured nearly 47 percent of the vote last year when he ran against Goodman.
Sen. Tom McInnis will once again face Democratic challenger Helen Probst Mills.
Senate District 25 covers Richmond, Moore, Anson and Scotland counties. The majority of voters in the heavily Democratic Anson County picked Mills, but McInnis carried the other three, according to the N.C. State Board of Elections.
There were five candidates to file for the Richmond County Board of Education: incumbants Wiley Mabe, Jerry Ethridge and Ronald Tillman; and newcomers David McGuire and Connie Poole, both of Hamlet.
After weeks of promotion, Hamlet native Wayne Goodwin, current state Democratic Party chairman, filed to run again as state Insurance Commissioner,a position he previously held for two consecutive terms.
Register of Deeds Linda Douglas has no opposition in the upcoming race.
Â
