2022 Election candidates now locked in

Last update at 11:30 a.m. March 8, 2022.

UPDATE: With Richmond County now being in NC Senate District 29 following the approval of the new legislative maps, candidates David Craven and Brooke Crump have been added to the candidate list below. Sen. Tom McInnis is still serving Richmond County, but is running for District 21 this November and will represent Moore and part of Cumberland counties if elected. Senate District 29 includes Richmond, Anson and Montgomery counties, along with the southeastern half of Union County and the southwestern three-fourths of Randolph County.

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Editor’s note: Johnathan Buie is no longer seeing signatures for his petition to become a county commissioner, according to Elections Director Connie Kelly, citing “personal reasons.” The story has been updated to reflect this.

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ROCKINGHAM — The final field for the 2022 local elections is set with a wide selection of challengers for seats on the Board of Commissioners and Board of Education.

On Thursday, Kevin Clark filed to run for county commissioner, and Friday two more commissioner candidates rounded out the filing period: Robin Roberts and Thomas Davenport.

See the full list of declared candidates below.

In addition to those who have declared under the Republican and Democratic party banners, there are many making a push as unaffiliated candidates. The unaffiliated candidates are as follows:

• Ashley Brower, running for Clerk of Superior Court (currently has submitted 795 valid signatures)

• Joe Cagle, running for sheriff

• Bryan Stanback, running for county commissioner

• Joe Ward, running for county commissioner

Each unaffiliated candidate must gather 1,094 signatures on a petition in order to be on the ballot in November. They will not be on the primary ballot due to being unaffiliated with any party.

These completed petitions must be submitted to the Board of Elections office by noon on May 17, the date of the primary.

The filing period resumed Thursday, Feb. 24 after a significant delay due to ongoing court battles over the bias of the state’s legislative and congressional districts. The filing period ended at noon on Friday, March 4. The deadline to register to vote in the primary is Friday, April 22, 2022.

Filing was cut short at the end of the original start date on Dec. 6, then restarted before being stopped completely the following Wednesday due to back-and-forth court rulings over the state legislative and congressional district maps.

The original primary date of March 8, 2022 has been moved to May 17, 2022, according to Paul Cox, associate general counsel of the North Carolina State Board of Elections. The original end of the filing period was to be noon on Dec. 17.

Those who had filed by the time the filing period was paused were locked in.

The candidates who have filed are as follows, in alphabetical order by last name:

For Richmond County Board of Commissioners:

• Tavares Bostic (D) – incumbent

• Don Bryant (D) – incumbent

• Abbie Covington (D)

• Kevin Clark (D)

• Thomas Davenport (R)

• Justin Dawkins (R) – incumbent, running for first full term

• Tyrannia “Smackie” Ellerbe (D)

• Karen Everett (R)

• Jason Gainey (R)

• Michael Legrand (D)

• Danny Pearson (R)

• Robin Roberts (R)

• Linda S. Ross (D)

• Rick Watkins (R) – incumbent

For Richmond County Board of Education:

• Scotty Baldwin

• Daryl Mason – incumbent

• Jeremy McKenzie

• Bobbie Sue Ormsby – incumbent

• Eddie Rainwater

• Joe Richardson – incumbent

• Cory Satterfield

• Bess York Shuler

For Richmond County Sheriff:

• Nigel William Bristow (D)

• Mark B. Gulledge (D) – incumbent, running for first full term

For NC Senate District 29 (new map):

• David “Dave” Craven Jr. (R) – incumbent, currently holds District 26 seat

• Brooke Crump (D)

For NC House District 52 (new map):

• Jamie Boles (R)

• Ben Moss (R) – incumbent, currently holds District 66 seat, running for first full term

For Clerk of Superior Court:

• Vickie B. Daniel (D) – incumbent

For District Attorney:

• Reece Saunders (D) – incumbent

NC District Court Judge District 16A

• Chevonne Wallace (D) – incumbent