From Staff Reports 

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders swept Buncome County in the March 15 statewide primary in which Buncombe also set a voter-turnout record for a presidential primary year, dating back at least to 2008.

Sanders won Buncombe by possibly the highest margin in the state � 62 percent to Hillary Clinton�s 35 percent. 

On March 13, former President Bill Clinton, drew a crowd estimated at 700 people that jammed into the gymnasium at Asheville High School, to hear him stump for his wife Hillary�s candidacy. However, based on the prinary results, the former president�s effort appeared to go for naught.

For the Republican presidential nomination, Sen. Ted Cruz romped to a Buncombe victory with 41.9 percent of the vote, followed by business tycoon Donald J. Trump, 30.9 percent; Ohio Gov. John Kasich, 15.48 percent; and (non-candidate) Marco Rubio, 9.1 percent. 

However, the statewide results for both parties� presidential races were the polar opposite of Buncombe�s among the top two candidates for each party�s nomination, as Clinton won the Democratic primary with 55 percent of the vote, while Donald Trump won the Republican primary with 40 percent of the vote.

Primary winners will advance to the Nov. 8 general election.

Out of 186,159 registered voters in Buncombe, 77,872 cast votes, or 41.83 percent. Buncombe�s percentage was higher than any other large county in the state, but the percentage was topped by the smaller counties of Chatham (47.07 percent); Orange (43.41 percent), which is the home of Chapel Hill; and Mitchell (42.45 percent).

In other results, North Carolina voters approved a $2 billion Connect NC bond by 65.6 percent in favor versus 34.4 percent against. The bond will fund government construction projects, which will include $21 million for renovation of two buildings at UNC Asheville, as well as funding for projects locally at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College and Western Carolina University. (In Buncombe, the voters also approved the bond, with 71 percent in support to 28.7 percent in opposition.)

In the U.S. Senate race, incumbent Sen. Richard Burr beat his top GOP challenger, winning 61.4 percent of the vote to physician Greg Brannon�s 25 percent. On the Democratic side, front-runner Deborah Ross, a former state senator, won with 62 percent of the vote.

Also, Linda Coleman beat Buncombe Commissioner Holly Jones in the race for the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor. Jones, who has represented most of Asheville as a commissioner since 2008, did well in Buncombe, where she won more than 80 percent of the vote. 

Causing a bit of a flap locally, Asheville City Councilman Cecil Bothwell triggered some criticism for his endorsement of Coleman, instead of Jones.

Coleman, a former state representative and personnel director, will face incumbent Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination.

In a hotly contested race for the Republican nomination for Buncombe commissioners� chair, Commissioner Miranda DeBruhl, a Leicester resident who reperesents District 3 in the west, topped challenger Chad Nesbitt, a former Buncombe GOP chair, with 60 percent of the vote to Nesbitt�s about 40 percent. 

DeBruhl will face Democrat Brownie Newman, the board�s current vice chair from Montford, in the general election. 

The general election could affect the balance of power on the Buncombe Board of Commissioners, which has a 4-3 Democratic majority over the Repulican minority.

In the Democrats� District 1 commissioners� race (Asheville, central Buncombe), LGBT rights activist Jasmine Beach-Ferrara won the Democratic primary over Asheville Councilman Gordon Smith and lifelong civil rights activist Isaac Coleman. She took 44 percent of the vote, compared to 39 percent for Smith and 17 percent for Coleman. 

District 1 is considered a liberal hot spot, so no Republican candidates chose to run, meaning Beach-Ferrara will face little or no opposition in the general election.

In District 2 (Fairview, Black Mountain, Eastern Buncombe), four Democrats ran for the commissioner�s nomination to face a GOP opponent � and Nancy Nehls Nelson of Reems Creek took 32 percent of the vote to come out on top. She is a former AT&T Bell Labs project manager.

Nelson topped Matt Kern, who finished with 26 percent of the vote; Larry Dodson, 24 percent; and Scott Bissinger, 18 percent.

Meanwhile, in the Republican�s District 2 commissioner race, incumbent Mike Fryar beat primary challenger Jordan Burchett, both of whom live in Fairview.

Fryar, a wholesale car dealer, got 58 percent of the votes to Burchette�s 42 percent.

Click here to see the complete results of North Carolina primary races.

Jasmine Beach-Farrara is projected to win the Buncombe County Commission District 1 Democrat seat and faces no opposition in November.