Allen Thomas Wins Nomination

Thomas, who is the former mayor of Greenville, NC, got 50% of the district-wide vote. Richard Bew, who visited Ocracoke in March, came in second with 25% of the district vote. At the county level, Thomas won with a higher margin of 60% of the votes, with Bew getting 27%. 

But, as always, Ocracoke was out of step with the overall vote in Hyde County and the rest of the 3rd Congressional District. 89 island residents voted for Bew; only 43 voted for Thomas. 

The Current reported that Bew was the only candidate in any party (Democrat, Republican, or Libertarian) to visit Ocracoke. We regret to inform you that that was FAKE NEWS. Allen Thomas flew into Ocracoke on Monday, the day before the election, and met with a select few (who? my sources say "fishermen") and flew out again. Tom Pahl, Ocracoke's representative on the Hyde County Board of Commissioners, posted on Facebook that Thomas "took time, several hours, to listen to our concerns about the shoaling in Hatteras Inlet, the fragile nature of our roads and our island and the challenges faced by our commercial fishermen." That's all we can tell you because the Current's staff was not invited to the candidate's huddle. 

In all, there were six Democratic candidates on the ballot, all of them men.

Only 24% of Hyde County's registered voters participated in the special primary election, but that's still a better showing than the only 14.48% of registered voters who voted in the district. 

In other news, Tim Harris beat one opponent to take the Libertarian nomination. 

The Republicans had a split ticket. With seventeen options to choose from (three women!), a clear winner was not determined. The most votes for a Republican in today's election went to Greg Murphy, who received only 22.54% of the votes, with the 2nd place candidate, Joan Perry, taking 15.44%. 

According to NC law, if no one gets a full 30% or more of the vote, then the candidate with the 2nd highest number of votes may demand a second (run-off) primary, in which case Murphy and Perry would be the only two choices. If that happens, the primary will be July 9, and the General Election will be September 10. 

If Perry does not demand a run-off, then we'll all vote on July 9, with three candidates (D, R, L) on the ballot. 

Again, with Ocracoke marching to a different drummer: Joan Perry got 6 votes, tied with Phil Shepherd, and Greg Murphy got 4. Even in the county, Murphy didn't finish first. He fell to third place behind Eric Rouse and Michael Speciale, with Perry in 4th place. 

In all, 42 Republicans, 136 Democrats, and 2 Libertarians voted on Ocracoke in Election Day and Early Voting combined.  

This special election for the 3rd Congressional District of North Carolina was necessary because Congressman Walter B. Jones, who held the seat for twelve terms (since 1995), died in February.