About 25 percent of Dare County’s registered voters cast ballots in yesterday’s primary election, a turnout that, although typical for primaries, resulted in two Republican candidates for the Dare County Board of Commissioners (BOC)—newcomers Carson Creef and Michael Burrus—winning seats on the seven-member board with less than 9 percent of the electorate’s support.
Republican Robert L. Woodard, Sr., the longtime chairperson of the BOC, had a stronger showing in his primary race, garnering about 10 percent of the Dare County electorate in his defeat of newcomer Christian Thomas Hayman. Unlike Mr. Creef and Mr. Burrus, however, Mr. Woodard has a Democratic opponent in the November general election.
According to unofficial results from the N.C. State Board of Elections (NCSBE), Mr. Creef, a Wanchese commercial fisherman who openly campaigned as “pro Trump,” ousted longtime BOC Vice Chair Wally Overman, who was first elected in 2013, by a vote of 2,924 to 2,294, and Mr. Burrus, a Wanchese businessman, defeated Bea Basnight, who was appointed to the BOC in December to fill the seat of the late Jim Tobin until the November election, by a vote of 2,942 to 2,355.
Both Mr. Creef’s and Mr. Burrus’s vote totals represent about 8.8 percent of the 33,310 registered voters in Dare County, of whom 8,159, or 24.49 percent, voted in the primary, according to the NCSBE.
Mr. Creef received 56.04 percent of the votes cast in his primary race, to Mr. Overman’s 43.96 percent, to win one of the two District 1 seats representing Roanoke Island and the Dare County mainland. Mr. Burrus received 55.54 percent of the votes cast in his race, to Ms. Basnight’s 44.46 percent, to win the other District 1 seat.
Mr. Woodard defeated Mr. Hayman by a vote of 3,437 to 1,652, or 67.54 percent to 32.46 percent of the votes cast. He will face Democratic challenger Katie Morgan of Colington in November for his District 2 seat, which represents Nags Head, Colington, and Kill Devil Hills.
Ms. Morgan announced her candidacy last December, and The Beacon has been remiss in not being aware of it. We apologize to readers for this significant oversight. Ms. Morgan was a passionate opponent of both SAGA Realty & Construction and its Ginguite Creek mixed-use development during public-comment periods in the three Special Use Permit application hearings held last fall by the Southern Shores Planning Board.
Also in November, incumbent Commissioner Steve House, a Republican who represents Duck, Southern Shores, and Kitty Hawk, will face Democratic challenger Dennis Zaenger for his District 3 seat, and Democrat Aida Havel and Republican Mary Ellon Ballance will vie for the District 4 seat (Hatteras Island), currently held by Commissioner Danny Couch, who decided not to run for reelection.
Thanks to Mr. Creef’s and Mr. Burrus’s victories yesterday, and Mr. Couch’s decision not to run, there will be at least three new members of the Dare County Board of Commissioners in December.
All BOC members serve four-year terms, and elections among the seven members are staggered.
To see all of the Dare County election results, or to see all results statewide, go to the N.C. State Board of Elections website at www.ncsbe.gov and click on the link at the top of the home page.
The turnout statewide was 24.02 percent, according to the NCSBE.
THE BEACON, 3/6/24
The Southern Shores Beacon 