Carruth, Poole win seats as Cabarrus Commissioners

Republican Robert ‘Bob’ Carruth smiles broadly as he learns he has retained his seat on the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners. Photo by Hugh Fisher, Salisbury Post

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By Hugh Fisher

hfisher@salisburypost.com

CONCORD — Republicans retained both of their former seats on the Cabarrus Board of Commissioners after Tuesday's election.

With all 46 precincts reporting, Republican challenger Elizabeth "Liz" Poole, former Cabarrus County School Board chairwoman was the night's biggest winner, with 41,731 votes, 31.4 percent.

"I was hopeful, based on the outcome from the primary, that the election would turn out like it did," Poole said.

"I'm very appreciative and thankful for everyone who voted for me. I'm pretty happy."

Republican incumbent Robert "Bob" Carruth held his seat with 37,782 votes, or 28.4 percent.

"I believe the people in this county recognized the experience I bring to the table, the common-sense leadership I've provided over the last eight years," Carruth said.

Democratic challenger Archie Barnhardt, who served on the board 20 years ago, received 30,701 votes, or 23.1 percent.

Reached at his home, Barnhardt said he was not bitter about the outcome.

"Well, that's the way elections go. You never can tell which way they're going to go," Barnhardt said.

Democrat Wendell Fant claimed 22,655 votes, a fraction more than 17 percent.

"Obviously I'm disappointed, but still I have a positive outlook," Fant said. "We'll go for it again in two years."

"I think being the newcomer was probably harder to get over than anticipated. Name recognition — at least I got my name out there, so I won't be starting from scratch this time."

Hartsell keeps seat in N.C. Senate

Republican N.C. Sen. Fletcher Hartsell won reelection by a wide margin in the 36th District.

With both counties in his district reporting, Hartsell carried 49,506 votes, or 56.8 percent.

His Democratic challenger, Charles Paxton — running in place of the late Jim Johnson — scored 37,664 votes, 43.2 percent.

"I'm very pleased. This was a challenging election in many ways," Hartsell said at Hibernian Hall.

He spoke positively of his challenger, Paxton, saying he had had a difficult race as well.

Moving forward, Hartsell said he hopes to work to support the North Carolina Research campus as growth continues there. A primary goal for him is seeing that Rowan-Cabarrus Community College has presence there.

Barnhart holds onto 82nd N.C. House

Concord Republican Jeff Barnhart won the race for the 82nd District N.C. House seat, taking 21,167 votes, 54.8 percent.

Democratic challenger Wayne Troutman, of Concord, won 17,458 votes, 45.2 percent.

"Obviously, I was hoping to go to Raleigh to be the representative for this district," Troutman said.

"But the people decided they liked the representative they had. I respect the vote of the people," he said.

Troutman said he was pleased that Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue had apparently won the gubernatorial race, and that he hoped he might be chosen to represent Cabarrus County in some other fashion.

"We haven't had a representative on the DOT Board from Cabarrus County since 1976," Troutman said.

Johnson wins big in 83rd N.C. House race

In the race for the 83rd N.C. House seat, Republican incumbent Linda Johnson, of Kannapolis, won a decisive victory.

With all precincts reporting, Johnson received 22,049 votes, 62.4 percent.

Her Democratic challenger, Barry Richards of Concord, received 13,272 votes, 37.6 percent.

Calls to the candidates were not immediately returned.