The primary rule held true for Rowan County again this year. That is, whoever wins the Republican primary for the Rowan County Board of Commissioners wins the election.

It’s not for lacking of trying on the part of others. Former Commissioner Raymond Coltrain, running unaffiliated, came within 76 votes of winning the third seat — a recount or provisional ballots might give him a victory yet, but that’s doubtful. Meanwhile, there were other strong contenders on the ballot, too.  This was no cakewalk for the Republicans.

Tuesday night’s winners in the commission race — Jim Greene, Greg Edds and Judy Klusman — share a positive approach to addressing Rowan County’s challenges. They talk about civility, repairing relationships with other boards and, most important, bringing jobs to Rowan. Let’s hope they succeed on all three. Along the way, it will be interesting to see how they mesh with Craig Pierce and Mike Caskey, and even more interesting to see what they all do with the former Salisbury Mall.

The upset of the night came in the school board race. Chairman Richard Miller and Jean Kennedy won re-election, but Travis Allen ousted veteran board member Kay Wright Norman and Dean Hunter beat incumbent L.A. Overcash. If these new board members team up with the last election’s newcomers, Chuck Hughes and Josh Wagner, the school board could head off in a new direction — for example, put the central office project on ice again. They should spend a week in the schools’ Long Street office first.

Other local races went about as expected. The re-election of the county’s longtime clerk of court, Democrat Jeff Barger, proves that Rowan County voters will split their ticket for the right person. Barger has a solid track record. Besides, running the clerk of court’s office is not a partisan endeavor. Voters stuck with Republican candidates in all other partisan races. Though the District Court race was non-partisan, candidate Ted Blanton put “Republican” on his signs — apparently to no avail. His opponent James Randolph won based on his reputation and stability, not his party affiliation.

The commercial that showed state Sen. Gene McLaurin’s face morphing into Barack Obama’s was the low point of this campaign — a sad way to end a respectable person’s legislative career. But it worked for Republican Tom McInnis, as such ads often do. Which brings up the Thom Tillis- Kay Hagan race.  More on that tomorrow.