Incumbent County Commissioners Hold On to Seats

Wins by incumbents Alice Gordon, Barry Jacobs and Stephen Halkiotis preserve the composition of the board. The results came as no surprise to the candidates.

Alice Gordon, the top vote-getter with 25 percent of the vote as of press time, said she is pleased with the results and expressed gratitude to her supporters.

Gordon said she credits her success to her previous years as a commissioner, citing her principles of excellent schools, environmental protection and good government. "I ran on my record," she said.

She said she recognized her improvement countywide.

"Looks like I've done better, and that is very gratifying," she said, after observing that she had led in several precincts.

Barry Jacobs, who received 24 percent of the vote, said he also was pleased with voter turnout, which he said "seemed to be surprisingly good."

Jacobs said he spent some time campaigning at the precincts Tuesday and described the experience as "wet."

He added, "A bunch of people took the opportunity to tell me what was on their minds."

Stephen Halkiotis, who received 23 percent of the vote, said he feels "very wonderful" about the election results.

Halkiotis said, "The citizens of Orange County care about their public schools, fellow human beings and the environment" and that these are the issues that he is most concerned with.

Even though he did not win the election, Republican candidate Jamie Daniel, who received 11 percent of the vote, said he will continue to help improve the county. "Orange County has someone that is going to fight for them, whether I win or lose," Daniel said.

He said he was pleased with the turnout at the polls and was glad to see the people of Orange County exercising their right to vote. "This was a great turnout, whether they voted for me or not," he said.

Robin Staudt, the other Republican candidate, could not be reached as of press time.

Libertarian candidate Seth Fehrs, who garnered 4 percent of the vote, said before the votes were counted that he thought the incumbents would win.

"It happens every year," Fehrs said.

He said he was concerned with the preservation of rural areas and said that if the county was not taxing the farmers at such a high rate, they wouldn't feel pressured to sell their land. "The rural part of the county doesn't get adequate representation."

The City Editor can be reached at citydesk@unc.edu.