Alamance County Sheriff gets challenger on last day of candidate filing, school board incumbents let it pass

Isaac Groves, Times-News

March 7, 2022 at 8:19 AM·4 min read

Democrat Kelly White is challenging Terry Johnson to become Alamance County Sheriff. He is now Winston-Salem State University's deputy chief of police.

There will be a race for Alamance County Sheriff for the first time since 2010.

Democrat Kelly White, 46, was among the last candidates to file to run in Alamance County’s 2022 election on Friday to the applause of about a dozen supporters outside the board of elections office.

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He is deputy chief of the Winston-Salem State University and spent much of his 20-plus year law-enforcement career in departments at historically Black colleges and universities. White made no comments after filing his paperwork Friday morning but did share a news release with the media.

“My vision is to serve as one sheriff for all, promoting unity across Alamance County,” he said according to the release. “Professional standards are what is needed in this office to move our law enforcement and our community forward.”

Republican Sheriff Terry Johnson filed to run in December. He has had a pretty tight hold on the office since his first election in 2002.

More: If the Alamance County sheriff faces a challenger in the 2022 election, it will be the first time in a long time

Neither candidate will have a challenger in the May 17 primary election.

N.C. House of Representatives District 63, on the other hand, now has three Republican candidates hoping to challenge Democratic incumbent Ricky Hurtado to represent northeast Alamance County, including much of its urban core.

Republican Peter Boykin, 44, also filed Friday morning to vie with Steve Ross and Ed Priola in the Republican primary. Boykin said he has a stronger digital presence, which he said is necessary to win these days.

Now living in Mebane, Boykin has a national profile as a conservative podcaster running his own news site GoRightNews.com and achieved some fame as the founder of Gays for Trump. Boykin ran an unsuccessful 2018 campaign to represent a Greensboro district in the State House and planned to run for Congress before court-ordered redistricting made the local district less favorable. He hopes to use a seat in the General Assembly to advocate for redistricting Alamance County back into a Republican-friendly congressional district.

“I’m just trying to take back our district,” Boykin said Friday.

More: With redrawn districts, Alamance County candidates step up to vie in May primary, November election

N.C. House District 24 will be a two-man race this year but without a primary.

Democrat Ron Osborne, of Graham, is a retired emergency management preparedness manager for Duke Energy now living and working on his small farm near Southern Alamance High School. He filed Friday to challenge Republican incumbent Dennis Riddell in November.

The Alamance County Board of Commissioners had just one more candidate step up in the last week of candidate filing, who is also the only Democrat running for one of two open seats.

Anthony Pierce, of Haw River, is a former paramedic now working in clinical research. He ran unsuccessfully for a commissioner’s seat in 2020.
Previously filed: Republicans Steve Carter (i), Craig Turner (i), Robert Turner and Rudy Cartassi.

The new 4th Congressional District, which includes Alamance, Orange, Durham, Granville and Person counties, plus a little piece of the northeast corner of Caswell County is crowded with Democrats.

Valerie P. Foushee of Hillsborough, currently Represents District 23 in the State House;
Matt Grooms, of Butner;
Clay Aiken, of Raleigh and American Idol fame;

And two Republicans

Courtney Geels, of Hillsborough, is a nurse;
Robert Thomas, also of Hillsborough.
Previously filed: Ashley Ward (D), Crystal Cavalier (D), both of Mebane, Richard L. Watkins (D), Stephen J. Valentine (D), Nida Allam (D).

The Alamance-Burlington Board of Education is not a partisan body, so candidates won’t face a primary in May, but they do have to file now. Two new candidates filed last week for a total of six running for three open seats.

Leonard Harrison of Mebane
Avery Wagoner of Burlington
Previously filed: Chuck Marsh, Dan W. Ingle, Charles Parker and Seneca Rogers.
Incumbents Tony Rose, Allison Gant and Wayne Beam are not running for re-election.

Previously filed

NC Senate District 25 – Amy Scott Galey (R) (i), Sean C. Ewing (D)
District Court judge – Brad Allen(D) (i)
District Attorney – Sean Boone (R) (i)
Alamance County Clerk of Superior Court – Meredith Tuck Edwards (R) (i)

Isaac Groves is an Alamance County watchdog reporter for the Times-News and the USA Today Network. Call or text 919-998-8039 with tips and comments or follow him on Twitter @TNIGroves.

This article originally appeared on Times-News: Alamance County candidates file on last day including a challenger to the sheriff

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