Durham County Election Results: Chitlik Wins in NC Senate District 22, Joy Harrell Wins At-Large School Board Race

Results are in for the primary elections in Durham County. With 63,479 total votes cast, here is how Durham residents voted.

Durham County Board of County Commissioners

Incumbents Wendy Jacobs and Nida Allam received the highest percentage of total votes with 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively. Michelle Burton, a newcomer and former president of the Durham Association of Educators, received the third-most votes. Former Durham Public Schools board of education member Mike Lee came in fourth. Stephen J. Valentine, a military veteran and current member of the Durham planning commission, rounds out the top five vote recipients.

Brenda Howerton, who has served on the board of county commissioners since 2008, came in sixth place just 1,004 votes behind Valentine. Howerton is within the margin of error meaning she could call for a recount but has not made any public comments regarding her future plans.

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Tough challenges are ahead for the new board of county commissioners. Funding for public schools and affordable housing are top priorities for Durham residents. The board will have to think creatively about how to address these important issues.

North Carolina State Senate District 22

Political newcomer Sophia Chitlik won 57.55 percent of the vote to unseat longtime incumbent Mike Woodard in the NC Senate District 22 Democratic primary race. With no Republican challenger in the upcoming general election, Chitlik is poised to take over for Woodard in the General Assembly.

“Durham is a place where progressives win,” Chitlik said on election night. “And progressives win in Durham because of the people.”

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Chitlik faced an uphill battle convincing voters that she was the right candidate to replace Woodard in the NC Senate. Residents questioned her connection to the Durham community (Chitlik moved to Durham in 2018) and the individual contributions to her campaign which are largely made up of “members of her own family or out-of-state figures with no clear ties to Senate District 22 or North Carolina,” according to reporting from INDY’s Lena Geller and Bull City Public Investigators.

But the majority of Durham voters have put their faith in Chitlik, and she is ready for the challenge.

“We’re not done yet, because we’re gonna keep knocking and we’re gonna keep raising and we’re gonna keep fighting for the policies that this campaign was built on,” Chitlik said during her victory speech on Tuesday night.

Durham County Board of Education

Joy Harrell defeated embattled candidate Atrayus Goode to win an at-large seat in the only contested race for board of education in Durham County, taking 88 percent of the vote.

Incumbent school board members Millicent Rogers and Jessica Carda-Auten will return to the board, as will former Durham Public Schools drama teacher Wendell Tabb. All ran unopposed.

About 27 percent of the electorate, or 63,479 voters, cast ballots in the Durham primary election. See all the Durham County results here.

Follow Reporter Justin Laidlaw on Twitter or send an email to jlaidlaw@indyweek.com. Comment on this story at backtalk@indyweek.com. 

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