By Taylor Sisk
Staff Writer
Brian Bock and Walter Petty won Republican primaries for seats on the Chatham County Board of Commissioners and will now face incumbents in the November general election.
Bock, a financial analyst and planner and chair of the Chatham County Republican Party, tallied 1,678 votes, or 55.45 percent, to defeat Cadle Cooper, who gathered 1,348 votes (44.55 percent), to earn the Republican nomination for the District 3 seat. He will now face Democratic incumbent Commissioner George Lucier.
Petty, a Chatham County native who owns and operates Atlantic Power Solutions in Siler City, received 1,938 votes (66.85 percent) to Kim Beal’s 961 (33.15 percent) in the race for the Republican nomination for the District 5 seat.
Democratic incumbent Commissioner Tom Vanderbeck was unopposed in his bid for re-election to the District 4 seat. He will face Pam Stewart, who works for PSNC Energy, who was unopposed in the Republican primary.
Of 41,832 registered voters in Chatham County, 7, 057, or 16.87 percent, turned out on Election Day. That’s slightly better than the statewide average of 14.92.
In the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, Elaine Marshall, who won 36.35 percent of the statewide vote and will now face Cal Cunningham in a June runoff, received 41.37 percent (1,567 votes) in Chatham. Cunningham won 27.24 percent of the vote statewide and 40.26 percent in Chatham.
On the GOP side, incumbent Sen. Richard Burr breezed to victory with 80.11 percent of the statewide vote, gathering 84.01 percent (2,516 votes) in Chatham County.
In the race for U.S. House of Representatives District 2, Republican Renee Ellmers won 55.11 percent of the statewide vote and 49.22 percent in Chatham, and will now face incumbent Bob Etheridge, who was unopposed.
In House District 4, Republican B.J. Lawson won his primary with 45.99 percent of the vote statewide, but was bested in Chatham County by Frank Roche, who picked up 61.39 percent of the vote (951) to Lawson’s 28.66 percent (444). Lawson will now face incumbent Rep. David Price in a rematch of their 2008 contest.
Chatham County voters also will go to the polls in November to fill seats on the school board. In non-partisan races, Tina Ford, Jeff Johnson, Martin Pinnock and Del Turner will run in District 3, and Ilana Dubester, Elizabeth Haddix, Gary Leonard and Deb McManus will run for two seats in District 4.