Republicans sweep Polk County for commissioner, all races

Published 11:00 pm Tuesday, November 8, 2016

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COLUMBUS-The Polk County Republican Headquarters in Columbus was on cloud nine Tuesday night as Republicans swept every race on the ballot in Polk County from U.S. President to the Polk County Board of Commissioners, according to unofficial results from the Polk County Board of Elections.

Jake Johnson (R) was high vote getter for the board of commissioners, followed by Myron Yoder (R) and Tommy Melton (R).

There were six candidates vying for three commissioner seats with all three Republicans winning by a wide margin over the Democrats.

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Johnson won a four-year term with 6,342 votes with Yoder also winning a four-year term with 5,888 votes, according to unofficial results. Melton won a two-year term with 5,546 votes.

“I just want to say thank you so much to the people of Polk County,” Johnson said Tuesday night. “I was so honored to be the high vote getter, but this should be shared by everyone in the county. This isn’t a win for a person or a party, this is a win for the future of Polk County. Thank you all so much.”

Penny Padgett (D) was the Democratic party’s highest vote getter but lost to Melton by almost 1,700 votes. Padgett received 3,853 votes, with Rhonda Lewis (D) receiving 3,707 votes and Russell Mierop (D) receiving 3,246 votes, according to unofficial results.

Other local elections included the non-partisan Polk County School Board, with the only contested race won by incumbent White Oak Township board member Cindy Allen. Allen received 4,937 votes compared to challenger Kevin Seay, who received 2,875 votes, according to Tuesday’s unofficial results.

Incumbent Tryon school board member Rick Covil received the most votes for the school board with 7,511, with Saluda school board member Rhonda Corley receiving 6,989 votes.

Incumbent Polk County Register of Deeds Sheila Whitmire (R), who was uncontested this year, secured her seat with 8,611 votes.

Polk County voters heavily supported Republicans this year with every partisan race being won by Republicans in the county.

Donald Trump received 6,738 Polk County votes compared to Hillary Clinton’s 3,715 votes for U.S. President. Gary Johnson received 270 Polk County votes and 159 votes were for write-in candidates, according to unofficial results as of Tuesday night.

As of press time, North Carolina voters had chosen Trump over Clinton, with 2,184,422 votes for Trump and 1,966,350 votes for Clinton, with 2,413 precincts out of 2,704 precincts reporting.

In the race for Congress for North Carolina’s 10th District, Patrick McHenry (R) garnered 219,589 votes to Tryon’s Andy Millard (D) 128,114 votes. In Polk County, 6,010 votes were case for McHenry and 4,586 for Millard.

N.C. Governor Pat McCrory (R) was also winning the state as of press time, with 2,199,449 votes compared to Roy Cooper’s (D) 2,145,436 votes. In Polk County, McCrory won with 6,200 votes compared to Cooper’s 4,279 votes and Lon Cecil’s (Lib) 249 votes.

Richard Burr (R) also won in Polk County for the U.S. Senate race with 6,334 votes compared to Deborah Ross (D), who received 3,950 in Polk County and Sean Haugh (Lib), who received 381 Polk County votes. Burr garnered 2,289,491 votes statewide to Ross’ 1,975,663 and Haugh’s 157,455.

The N.C. State Senate District 47 saw Ralph Hise (R) winning in Polk County with 6,305 votes compared to Mary Jane Boyd (D) with 4,015 votes.

As of Tuesday night, all seven precincts were reporting in Polk County with 67 provisional votes outstanding, which would not change any local race in the county.

The results will be made official next Friday, Nov. 18 when the Polk County Board of Elections will canvass the votes.

For final unofficial results, visit the Polk County Board of Election website at polknc.org.

UPDATE 6:15 a.m. 11/9/16: According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections, Roy Cooper (D) leads Gov. Pat McCrory (R ) by 5,001 votes. Roy Cooper posted the following statement to his Facebook timeline at around 2 a.m.: “This has been an extremely hard fought race, but the people of North Carolina have spoken and they have chosen a change in leadership. We are confident once the results are certified we will confirm tonights victory.”