By Steve Huffman
shuffman@salisburypost.com
Sen. Andrew Brock was re-elected to his 34th District seat Tuesday, easily out-distancing Democratic challenger Bill Burnette.
Brock, at 34, is still the youngest member of the N.C. Senate, despite this being his fourth term in office. He garnered 47,695 votes to Burnette’s 30,247.
In Rowan County, Brock captured 59 percent of the vote, while he took 67 percent of Davie County’s vote. Both men live in Davie County.
“The race wasn’t about me. It was about the issues,” Brock said. “I have the same feelings on the issues as the people of Rowan and Davie counties have. They found my opponent couldn’t capture these issues.”
Brock said the election took a nasty turn in its final weeks, with Mark Basnight, president pro tem of the N.C. Senate, and other Democratic senators taking aim at keeping him from being re-elected.
“I was shocked,” Brock said. “I became a target a few weeks ago. They had a considerable lead in cash.”
For that reason, he wasn’t secure about his return to office until the vote totals began being posted Tuesday night, Brock said. Brock arrived at the Cohen Administrative Office Building in downtown Salisbury in the early evening and watched the vote totals as they were posted.
“I didn’t know what the numbers were going to be,” Brock said. “This is a good, conservative Republican area, but I didn’t take my re-election for granted.”
Brock was first elected in 2002 and has been returned to office handily in each run for re-election.
Brock watched Tuesday night’s election results alongside his fiancee, Andrea Gentry. The two are to be married Nov. 22.
“We were planning an election and a wedding at the same time,” Brock said. “If we can get through that storm, we can get through anything.”
Burnette is a Davie County businessman.