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Catawba County voters overwhelmingly re-elected Barbara Beatty and Dan Hunsucker to four-year terms on the board of county commissioners in final but unofficial returns late Tuesday.
With all 40 precincts reporting, Beatty, 61, a telephone company manager, won her fifth term and Hunsucker, 52, a farmer, won the race for his fourth. The two Republicans defeated Democrat Steve Hunt, 57, an administrator at Catawba Valley Community College.
Hunsucker had 42,599 votes, while Beatty won 41,578. Hunt was in third place with 25,901.
• With votes in all 40 precincts counted in the District 42 state Senate race, Republican Austin Allran won re-election to his 14th term in the N.C. Senate. Allran, a Hickory lawyer, defeated Democrat Joseph “Jody” Inglefield, a physician, 42,806 to 24,379.
• Republican Andy Wells, a Hickory commercial real estate broker and developer, won his first term in N.C. House District 89, defeating Cliff Moone, a Hickory Democrat and instructor at CVCC. The seat was open after Rep. Mark Hilton did not seek re-election. With all 20 precincts reporting, Wells beat Moone 21,008 to 12,605.
• Republican Mitchell Setzer was re-elected to his seventh term representing the 96th House District with no opposition, collecting 16,956 votes in early returns.
• Also, voters in the Catawba County School District returned Marilyn McRee to a seat on the board, where she is completing her first term.
Two other board members did not seek re-election, and voters chose Cathy Starnes and Ronn Abernathy to fill the two vacancies on the nonpartisan board.
The final returns were Abernathy, 14,985; Carolyn Jones Connor, 10,491; Mike Gravley, 10,756; Jeffrey Herman, 9,919; Marilyn McRee, 16,246; Sue Smolka, 7,656; Cathy Starnes, 15,900; Jennifer Townsend, 10,053; and Pamela Williams, 7,170.
• Voters elected David Hoyle Caldwell to the Catawba County Soil and Water Conservation District board of supervisors. Votes, with all 40 precincts reporting, were Caldwell, 28,711; Paul Deyo, 7,586; and Vance Proctor Jr.
