Three North Carolina races go to run-off elections on May 14th

Following the North Carolina Republican primary election earlier this month, the races for state auditor, lieutenant governor, and North Carolina’s 13^th congressional district are going into run-off elections. 

In each race, neither of the top two candidates achieved the required 30% or more to avoid a run-off. In the race for lieutenant governor, Hal Weatherman will face off against Jim O’Neil; in the auditor’s race, Dave Boliek will face off against Jack Clark; and in the Congressional District 13, Kelly Daughtry will face off against Brad Knott. 

The sixth congressional district was also headed a run-off between former congressman Mark Walker and Trump-endorsed Addison McDowell. However, Walker recently declined a run-off when he accepted a position with Donald Trump’s campaign for president as outreach director for faith and minority communities. 

“All voters who live in the district for which a second primary is conducted and are registered with the political party of the candidates are eligible to vote in the second primary,” according to the State Board of Elections website. “Unaffiliated voters who live in that district and either didn’t vote in the primary, or who voted the ballot of the party for which the second primary is being held, would also be eligible.”

Lieutenant Governor

Hal Weatherman, the candidate for lieutenant governor, was campaign manager and chief of staff for former Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest as well as campaign manager for former US Rep. Sue Myrick. Weatherman also founded a charter school. 

“We are well positioned for the May 14 runoff election for Lt. Governor,” Weatherman told the Carlina Journal in an email. “On the primary election night, we garnered 181,000 votes statewide, carrying 62 counties and besting the second place finisher by 34,000 votes.  Our campaign is a testament to the power of grassroots. I traveled to all 100 counties (the only candidate to do so), including visiting 35 counties [five] times or more and 10 counties, 10 times or more.  On election night, when you take out all the candidates eliminated and match us vs. our runoff opponent, we outperformed him in 80 counties.  We have not let our foot off the gas and instead have doubled our efforts to travel the state and recruit volunteers and will settle for nothing but all out victory in the runoff election.  Runoffs are won with boots on the ground and I have spent 14 straight months recruiting people in all 100 counties. We will now mobilize them and use the runoff election to ‘prime the pump’ for an energetic, grassroots-oriented general election run.”  

Weatherman’s opponent, Jim O’Neil, is serving his fourth term as district attorney for Forsyth County, previously serving as assistant DA. In 2020, he ran against Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic nominee for Governor. O’Neil’s campaign did not respond to the Carolina Journal’s request for comment.

The run-off winner will face Sen. Rachel Hunt, the democratic nominee.  The general election winner in November will replace sitting Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson.

State Auditor

Republican candidate Jack Clark received 23% of the vote in the auditor’s race primary, while Dave Boliek received 22%. The winner of the auditor’s run-off will face incumbent Democrat Jessica Holmes in the general election. Holmes was appointed when former State Auditor Beth Wood, a Democrat, resigned following controversy. In the general election will feature libertarian candidate, Bob Drach, as well.

“My campaign strategy for the run-offs is similar to my campaign strategy prior to March 5,” Clark told the Carolina Journal in an email. “While I do want the primary season to be over so that I can focus on the general election, I am fully invested in the upcoming election in May.”

Boliek called for an emergency audit of Durham schools back in February. “If elected as State Auditor, Boliek said he will establish rapid-response teams to tackle financial and programmatic emergencies like Durham’s. Such crises require independent external audits, not mere internal reviews as in Durham’s case,” according to a press release. 

This followed an incident with Durham Public Schools when a payroll error resulted in employees being overpaid from July to December of 2023, as previously reported by the Carolina Journal. 

“I am continuing to campaign across North Carolina, meeting with voters and laying out a vision for the State Auditor’s office,” Boliek told the Carolina Journal in an email. 

CD-13

In Congressional District 13, Kelly Daughtry faces off against Brad Knott. The run-off winner will face Democratic nominee Frank Pierce in the general election.

“Kelly won the primary election by nearly double digits because conservatives want a fighter who will stand with President Trump to end the invasion on our border,” Stefan Mychajliw, spokesman for the Daughtry campaign, told the Carolina Journal in an email. “Conservatives have a simple choice in the runoff: stand with Kelly Daughtry, the America First conservative, or Never Trumper and Biden DOJ hack Brad Knott who will do in Congress what he’s done for the last 8 years – pick Joe Biden over President Trump. That choice couldn’t be more clear and that’s why we look forward to a strong victory on May 14.” 

Daughtry’s opponent, Brad Knott, is a former federal prosecutor. 

“The 13th district primary was a hot mess of a long list of good candidates splitting the Conservative vote,” Johnathan Felts, campaign adviser to Brad Knott told the Carolina Journal in an email. “This is no longer the case. Now it’s a one-on-one contest with a very clear contrast for Republican voters to consider. Brad Knott is a Conservative Fighter who spent the Trump Administration prosecuting and locking up illegal aliens, drug dealers, and hardened criminals. Kelly Daughtry is a lifelong RINO who publicly bragged to her friends about voting for Barack Obama and more recently donated money to Democrat Cheri Beasley for US Senate just over a week after President Trump had endorsed Ted Budd! We feel very optimistic that Trump Conservatives who dominate a primary runoff will support conservative prosecutor Brad Knott will over squishy divorce lawyer Kelly Daughtry on May 14.”

The run-off election will take place on May 14, while in-person early voting for the runoff begins on April 25, ending on May 11. The deadline to request an absentee ballot is May 7 at 5 pm, with at ballot return deadline of 7:30 pm on election day. 

The post Three North Carolina races go to run-off elections on May 14th first appeared on Carolina Journal.