by Blake Proctor
The Nation has spoken and Boards of Elections all over this great Land are busy counting ballots; it may be several days before all ballots are counted and the presidential winner announced.
But here in Bladen County, the electorate has spoken loud and clear. The votes in Bladen County are unambiguous and explicit – Bladen County is solidly Red, both nationally and statewide, as well as locally.
The single exception is the overwhelming win by Democrat Dr. Ophelia Munn-Goins in the County Commission District 1 election, where she defeated Republican challenger Ricky Price in a 3,084 to 1,838 rout, garnering 62.7% of the vote.
In what is sure to be a contested result, Democrat Cou
The average vote spread in Bladen County for all the races this election was about 10%, with most races coming in at approximately 55% to 45%, similar to the spread in Republican-Democrat voter registrations.
With State and National races still up in the air, here are the results for those races of county-wide interest:
Democrat newcomer Mark Gillespie’s 3,434 votes (20.8%) found him second to Republican Commissioner Ray Britt’s 5,198 (31.5%), making the County Commission slightly Bluer come December. As earlier stated, the third Countywide Seat will be duked out between current Commissioners Cogdell and Gooden.
Bladenboro Town Commissioner Rodney Hester will be another new face on the County Board as he faced no organized opposition for the County’s District 2 Seat; with 4,542 votes to 203 write-ins, he handily won that Seat with 95.7% of the vote.
On the other hand, the County Commission’s District 3 Seat being vacated by Commissioner Ashley Trivette was hotly contested by Republican Danny Ellis and Democrat Jimmie Smith. At the finish line, however, Mr. Ellis handily defeated Mr. Smith by a vote of 3,237 to 2,363 (55.8% to 44.2%).
In the other County Commission District 3 contest, Republican Cameron McGill bested Democrat Matthew Dixon by a vote of 3,364 to 2,436, or 58.0% to 42.0%
In the three Bladen Board of Education contests, two were uncontested: In District 1, Democrat Glenn McKoy received 3,791 votes; in District 3, unaffiliated candidate Chris Clark got 3,873 votes.
In the handiest defeat of the night, Republican School Board District 2 candidate Tim Benton bested Democrat opponent Berry Lewis 68.3% to 31.7% with a tally of 3,743 to 1,739 votes.
In another hard-fought contest for Supervisor of the Bladen Soil & Water Conservation District. Eddie Hester eked out a close win over Opponent Dawson Singletary, wining 6,235 votes (41.9%) to Singletary’s 5,890 (39.6%). McRae Dowless finished a distant third, picking up 2,637 or 17.7% of the votes.
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