Young turns back Wallace for county seat; Breedlove re-elected to school board
Macon County voters made their voices heard on Election Day last week, and now the unofficial results are in.
In the only contested race for the Macon County Board of Commissioners, Republican Josh Young defeated Betty Cloer Wallace by a margin of 14,709 votes (73.37%) to 5,339 votes (26.63%).
Young ran on a platform of creating more jobs and business opportunities for Macon County residents, both current and prospective. Following the election, he expressed his gratitude for the support of a wide base of voters, as well as to the officials and volunteers who helped make sure that the election ran smoothly.
“I wanted to say thank you to Macon County for the tremendous outpouring of love and support that we’ve seen and thank you to the volunteers who keep our democracy safe,” Young said. “This is not a responsibility I will take lightly.”
Wallace ran on a wide-sweeping platform that included support for more county involvement in broadband expansion, healthcare expansion, drug-related crime prevention and economic development. While she was disappointed by the results, she believes that there is still ample demand for her policy goals and she has already expressed interest in running for commissioner again in 2022.
“Macon County has gone red again from top to bottom, still one of the reddest counties in North Carolina,” Wallace said. “But thank you to all my friends who voted for me and supported my candidacy for county commissioner. Thank you for working to make our home county a better place.”
The other competitive local race was for a seat on Macon County’s Board of Education. Incumbent board chairman Jim Breedlove prevailed in his bid for reelection with 8,138 votes (47.22%) in a three-way race, trailed by Matt Mason with 5,551 votes (32.21%) and Emily Ritter with 3,468 votes (20.12%).
Breedlove said he was grateful for voters’ affirmation of the quality of his work and assured them he would continue to serve to the best of his abilities.
“Your friendship, kindness, and support will never be taken for granted nor forgotten,” Breedlove said. “As a Macon County School Board member, I will continue to stand by my ongoing pledge and promise to always be guided by the principle of making decisions that are in the best interest of the students.”
Ritter ran for the seat in hopes of introducing a fresh perspective to the board, but having lost the race, she intends to cooperate with the existing board and the rest of the Macon County Schools community to keep on affecting positive change.
“Ultimately, I want to make Macon County a hub for producing, nurturing and growing young minds to be our leaders of tomorrow,” Ritter said. “If I can’t do that as a school board member, I will do what I can as a citizen to make that happen.”
Mason also agreed that the community should continue to work together for the benefit of the children and offered his congratulations to Breedlove.
“I would like to congratulate Jim Breedlove for his win last week,” Mason said. “I would also like to thank all of my friends and family for their support during the campaign.”
In races on larger stages, Macon County residents voted quite a bit more Republican than the state as a whole. President Donald Trump won Macon County over challenger Joe Biden 14,152 votes (68.48%) to 6,213 votes (30.06%) while Biden led the national popular vote 75,604,024 votes (50.7%) to 71,045,055 votes (47.6%) at the time of writing.
In the race for North Carolina’s US Senate seat, no result has been confirmed yet as Republican Thom Tillis leads Democrat Cal Cunningham 2,642,026 votes (48.72%) to 2,546,281 votes (46.95%) with ballots still being counted. Macon County backed Tillis for reelection with 13,352 votes (65.32%) to 6,230 votes (30.48%) for Cunningham.
Similarly, Macon County voters heavily backed Republican Dan Forest to replace Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper 13,277 votes (64.43%) to 7,044 votes (34.18%), although Cooper won the state as a whole 2,806,710 (51.49%) to 2,564,745 votes (47.05%).
Macon County voters also backed Republican Madison Cawthorn in the race for North Carolina’s 11th US congressional district with 13,899 votes (68%) to Democrat Moe Davis’ 6,040 (29.55%). Macon County was a big asset to Cawthorn in the race as a whole, where he came out on top 243,904 votes (54.51%) to Davis’ 189,523 votes (42.36%).
Macon County natives had a strong showing in races for state office. Republican Macon County commissioner Karl Gillespie succeeded in his bid for the North Carolina House of Representatives’ 120th district, winning 14,165 votes (70.69%) to democrat Susan Landis’ 5,872 (29.31%). Gillespie said that his time on the local scene was critical to forming a connection with voters and he expects to make good use of what he’s learned in Macon County in Raleigh.
“I think that my community service background and my elected background were very important to the race,” Gillespie said. “I think it gave me an understanding that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. That will still be important to use at the state level.”
That seat is being vacated by Republican Kevin Corbin, who won his race for the North Carolina Senate’s 50th district with 14,751 votes (72.86%) to Democrat Victoria Fox’s 5,496 (27.14%). Corbin said that he has always prioritized the needs of rural counties in his policy goals and that his roots in Macon County will remain strong in the Senate.
“Urban legislators don’t really understand where we live, but we’re making progress,” Corbin said.
For more information on how Macon County and the rest of North Carolina voted, check out the returns to the North Carolina State Board of Elections online at er.ncsbe.gov.