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Murphy – Several candidates have joined the race for local offices since the filing period for the 2022 statewide primary and municipal elections resumed Thursday. Filing remains open until noon Friday.
The Cherokee County Board of Education’s District 3 race has been the most active so far, with five local residents running for a seat occupied by incumbent Joey Shore. Three people filed for election in December – Jason Murphy, Jose “Joe” Barreiro and Leslie Gibson – while Shore and Shannon D. Raper filed their paperwork last week.
Andrew Zenobi has joined the race against Allen Denny for the District 2 post, while Keesha Curtis, the incumbent for the board’s at-large spot, officially filed to run against challenger Steve Coleman.
In Cherokee County Board of Commissioners races, Chairman Dan Eichenbaum has a second opponent after Joe Simonds joined the running for his District 4 seat. Eichenbaum and challenger John Midkiff both filed in December.
Meanwhile, Karen Mintz Wright and Stephanie L. Swanson have both filed their paperwork to run for Cherokee County Register of Deeds.
The N.C. Supreme Court temporarily suspended the filing period on Dec. 8 – just two days after it began on Dec. 6 – and postponed the statewide primary from March until Tuesday, May 17. The delays were due to lawsuits over partisan gerrymandering within newly adopted district boundaries.
Candidates who filed before the suspension of the filing period do not need to re-file if they still wish to run for the same office. However, those candidates may withdraw their candidacy during the new filing period and instead file for any other office for which they are eligible. The deadline to withdraw was the close of business Tuesday, March 1.
Depending on the office sought, candidates will file their Notices of Candidacy with either their county board of elections or the State Board of Elections. The Cherokee County Board of Elections is at 40 Peachtree St., Suite B, downtown.
The general election will be held Tuesday, Nov. 8. The following candidates, all Republicans, have registered to run for county offices this year.
Board of Commissioners
District 1: Cal Stiles (incumbent), Steve Jordan
District 3: Ben Adams, John Worden, Mark Kephart
District 4: Dan Eichenbaum (incumbent), John Midkiff, Joe Simonds
Board of Education
At-large: Keesha N. Curtis (incumbent), Steve Coleman
District 2: Allen Denny, Andrew Zenobi
District 3: Joey Shore (incumbent), Jason Murphy, Jose Barreiro, Leslie Gibson, Shannon Raper
Clerk of Superior Court
Roger Gibson (incumbent)
Register of Deeds
Karen Mintz Wright, Stephanie L. Swanson
Cherokee County Sheriff
Joe Wood, Dustin D. Smith, Heath Woodard