By Peter Vankevich
Hyde County will have two new commissioners after the Nov. 5 general election.
In the only county commissioner contested election, in Lake Landing Township, Thomas Midgette in the March 5 primary beat back challengers James (Boo Boo) Topping and Tommy Loftus to run in November as a Democrat.
Current Lake Landing commissioner Earl Pugh Jr (R) did not seek reelection and no Republican filed to run in this township. Midgette will be unopposed on the November ballot.
Fairfield commissioner Ben Simmons (R) also did not seek reelection and no Republican filed for that seat. Thomas Whitaker will run as a Democrat against unaffiliated candidate Jeffrey Berry.
Ocracoke commissioner Randal Mathews filed for reelection and will be unopposed in November.
The two other townships, Currituck, represented by Shannon Swindell, (U), and Swan Quarter, Jan Moore (R), were not up for reelection. County commissioner terms are four years.
“I want to thank the other two candidates for running and hope they will continue to be involved with the Hyde community,” said Midgette, who added that he had already spoken with outgoing Commissioner Pugh on the transition. “I’m looking forward to serving, and my first priority will be to listen of the community and work on the issues they find most important.
“For me, I want the commissioners to work with transparency and I want people to think Hyde County is a better place in three and four years, with education, employment and services.”
Midgette garnered 218 votes, followed by Topping 191 and Loftus 94.
In the 2016 Lake Landing election, Midgette ran against incumbent Pugh losing 1,219 to 841 with an amazing 67.5% voter turnout for that precinct. In a candidates forum on Ocracoke that year, Midgette introduced himself by saying “I am not running against Earl Pugh, I’m running for county commissioner.”
Ocracoke Township has a total of 860 registered voters: Democrats, 377; Republicans, 132; Libertarians, six; and 345 unaffiliated.
A total of 210 (24.4 %) voted on Ocracoke.
For Hyde County, 1,068 cast ballots out of the 3,187 (33.51%) registered voters.
Statewide, 790,838 out of 7,456,236 were cast (24.02%)
Unaffiliated voters can request whatever party ballot, Democrat, Republican or Libertarian, to vote in the primaries.
With no surprises Incumbent Joseph Biden (D) and Donald Trump (R) easily won their primaries for president of the United States.
Statewide, Mark Robinson (R) will face off against Josh Stein (D) to be the next governor.
Results of all North Carolina elections can be found at the North Carolina Board of Elections website