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Democrats pick Ashe over Cruzan for sheriff

Haire earns House nomination

By Carey Phillips
Election Jackson County Board of Elections staffers, from left, board members Tom Jones and Bob Ray, Michelle Webb and Director Lisa Lehman, reviewed precinct totals as they arrived Tuesday night. Turnout for this year's primary, which was delayed due to a court battle over legislative redistricting, was at about 25 percent, Lehman reported, slightly higher than many had expected. - Herald photo by Lisa Majors-Duff

Jim Ashe, who resigned last year as chief deputy of the Jackson County Sheriff's Department, defeated his former boss in Tuesday's Democratic primary for sheriff.

In a nail-biter, retired educator Ken Henke held a 10-vote lead over the Rev. John Reid in complete - but unofficial - returns for the non-partisan Jackson County School Board District 2 seat.

Winning Democratic primaries for seats on the board of commissioners were Stacy Buchanan for chairman and Brian McMahan from District 2, while Sylva attorney Phil Haire won the right to seek a third term in the N.C. House of Representatives by winning the Democratic nomination for the new 119th District.

The primary had been delayed from its traditional May date due to a court battle over legislative redistricting.

The delay had prompted state election officials to predict an extremely light turnout, but in Jackson County the rate was 24.8 percent, almost identical to four years ago. Local election officials credited interest in the race for sheriff with keeping turnout average.

Ashe, currently a police officer at Western Carolina University, polled 2,028 votes, or 44.2 percent, to 1,312 votes, or 28.6 percent for two-term incumbent Jim Cruzan. Rounding out the field were Larry Bryson, an officer with the Haywood County Sheriff's Department, with 774, and Joe Frigo, a Sylva police officer, with 470.

"It's unbelievable," Ashe said Wednesday morning. "I just humble myself to all the citizens who opened their homes, their community centers and their ears to my ideas. And I appreciate the support they gave me."

Ashe will face Republican Curtis Lambert in November.

In the only contested school board race, Henke had 1,398 votes to Reid's 1,388. Gene Robinson picked up 1,171, and Sarah Altman had 1,047. Four write-in votes were cast.

The school board race is so close that the final outcome won't be known until at least late today (Thursday) when the Jackson County Board of Elections completes its canvass. Provisional ballots cast Tuesday, if allowed by the board, could be enough to change the result.

With the difference between Henke and Reid at less than 1 percent, Reid has the right to request an automatic recount by 5 p.m. Friday, an option he said Wednesday morning he was considering.

The winner will take office in December replacing the late Martha Queen.

Haire won Jackson County 2,778-1,591 and was a districtwide winner by a margin of 5,248-3,700 over Troy Burns of Swain County. Burns won his home county 1,028-699 and the one Macon County precinct in the district 147-81; however, Haire piled up a 1,690-934 advantage in Haywood County.

Haire will meet Republican Kaye Matthews of Haywood County in November.

"I'm humbled with all the support I have received," Haire said. "It makes me want to go back to Raleigh and work that much harder. Of course I'll have to gear up for the November election."

Haire said he was especially grateful for the support he received from Jackson County, where he picked up 63.6 percent of the vote.

Buchanan, Jackson County commission vice chairman, defeated Gene Middleton with 60.7 percent of the vote for a margin of 2,467-1,597. Buchanan will be unopposed in November.

McMahan won in District 2 with 2,053 votes, or 47.8 percent, to 1,619 votes, or 37.7 percent, for Frank Burrell, a retired school superintendent. Sylva Commissioner Maurice Moody received 621 votes.

McMahan will run against Republican Dodie Blaschik in November.

Local school board candidates who ran unopposed were incumbents James Roper in District 3 and Ali Laird-Large in District 4 and newcomer Nathan Moss in District 5. Roper had 3,807 votes with 30 write-ins. Laird-Large totaled 3,682 votes with 24 write-ins. Moss picked up 3,825 votes with 10 write-ins.

In the U.S. Senate race, Tuesday's winners were Democrat Erskine Bowles and Republican Elizabeth Dole.

Bowles, former White House chief of staff, carried Jackson County with 1,952 votes. Other totals here were Elaine Marshall (508), Cynthia Brown (504), Dan Blue (293), Bob Ayers (206), Duke Underwood (165), Albert Wiley (158), Randy Crow (117) and David Tidwell (110).

Dole picked up 846 votes to lead in Jackson County. Jim Snyder was second with 91 votes followed by Jim Parker (41), Douglas Sellers (22), Ada Fisher (13), Timothy Cook (9) and Venkat Challa (6).

Bob Hunter defeated Bradley Greenway for the Democratic nomination for a seat on the N.C. Supreme Court. Hunter won locally 2,304-804.

The Republicans also had a primary for a Supreme Court seat, and Edward Brady was holding a narrow lead over Ralph Walker. In Jackson County, Brady won 404-373.

Democrats being nominated for seats on the N.C. Court of Appeals were George Barrett and Martha Geer. Barrett led Beecher Gray 1,685-1,312 in Jackson County, and Geer won here 1,693-1,524 over Marcus Williams.

Republican winners for Appeals Court seats were Rick Elmore, Eric Levinson and Ann Marie Calabria. Local results had Elmore over Fritz Mercer 401-356, Lorraine Dollar over Levinson 429-363 and Calabria over Nate Pendley 419-340.

Back to Archive: 09/12/02.