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I’m happy to report that the State Board of Elections on Nov. 25 unanimously authenticated the results of the 2025 municipal elections in North Carolina, finding no conspiracies.
“The results of these audits reaffirm what we see year after year: North Carolina’s certified voting systems count ballots with a high level of accuracy,” Executive Director Sam Hayes said. “Voters can be confident that the machines performed as intended, and that the certified results reflect the will of the people.”
Andrews had one of the most contested elections over the last few decades, with strong candidates up and down the ballot. There were two candidates for mayor – James Reid and Brandi Smith – while four local residents ran for two seats on the board of aldermen – Chasity Ledford, Heath Woodard, Rex Cable and Gary James.
Ledford and Woodard won those seats, albeit with mixed emotions. Ledford is close to Smith, who narrowly lost to Reid, denying the friends a chance to work together on the town board.
Meanwhile, Woodard was a town officer who joined three others in quitting en masse shortly after James was elected as an aldermen 12 years ago and assigned to oversee the police department. Woodard had to feel some sense of vindication after being elected over James this year.
Reid won a third term by only 14 votes, but it’s clear why he kept his edge – there isn’t a bigger backer for the town. If something’s going on in Andrews, he’s there, live-streaming from downtown festivals and football games, making sure everyone who follows him has a reason to come to The Valley. Smith could have made a fine mayor, too, but Reid’s personable nature and constant cheerleading for Andrews is hard to overlook.
On the other side of the county, after Jeff Crane’s passing there was only one candidate for Murphy mayor – Tim Radford – while exactly six candidates filed to run for the six seats on the town council. Cindy Chastain, Charlene Smith, Jonathan Dickey, Barry McClure, Gail Walker Stansell and Kimberly Harris were elected as council members over write-in candidate Cameron Killian.
Those results shouldn’t have been a surprise, as the Murphy Town Council and government made a lot of progress from 2001-25. That includes relocating into a modern police facility, securing a state grant for the Downtown Streetscape Project, securing a FEMA grant for a new 2,000-gallon tanker, adding three full-time firefighters, replacing old waterlines, making improvements to the River Walk, supporting the development of Valley River Apartments and forming the Mayor’s Rising Stars program.
In addition, Murphy became a recognized N.C. Main Street Community in 2022. And four new businesses opened, creating 35 more jobs, in 2023-24 alone.
Radford would be the first person to give credit to others for the last four years, but he deserves his fair share of pats on the back, too. In addition to his full-time job as owner of WKRK radio, he works full-time hours as mayor.
The list of organizations Radford is involved with is impressive: Southwestern Commission, chair, Association of Tennessee Valley Governments, secretary; N.C. Mayors Association Board of Directors; SWC Transportation Advisory Committee Board of Directors; N.C. Commission on Volunteerism & Community Service, commissioner; Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors; Main Street Murphy Board of Directors; Rotary District 7670, assistant governor; National League of Cities, member; and the N.C. League of Municipalities, member.
Those aren’t just lines on a resume, either. Each of those boards contributes economic and other resources to Murphy, Andrews and Cherokee County, so having a local person represent us is important to making sure we get what we deserve from Raleigh and Washington.
Before taking office, Radford studied hard, making him the most prepared first-term mayor possible. On the other side, Reid had multiple terms on the board of aldermen to learn on the job. While the two are very different in many ways, both personally and professionally, they share the same goal of wanting only the best for their respective towns.
David Brown is publisher of the Cherokee Scout. Call him with comments and questions at 828-837-5122 or email dbrown@cherokeescout.com.