From Staff Reports 

With the final canvass completed, the race getting the most local news media attention in the May 8 primary was the five-way contest for the Democrat candidate for sheriff.

The winner was Quentin Miller, a sergeant with the Asheville Police Department who has built a good rapport with citizens trying to live peaceably in high-crime areas. Miller won in a landslide with 4,184 votes.

The next closest contestant, Randy Smart, received 1,964 votes. Endorsed by retiring incumbent Sheriff Van Duncan, Smart, now a captain with 24 years’ experience in the sheriff’s office, did not want to get swept into hyping sensational rhetoric but campaigned on keeping things normal for normal people.

 Other contestants were the director of law-enforcement training at A-B Tech R. Daryl Fisher (1,247 votes), retired sheriff’s deputy and forest ranger Chris Winslow (450 votes), and president of Asheville’s Fraternal Order of Police Rondell Lance (207 votes).

 Miller will face Republican Shad Higgins and Libertarian Tracey Debruhl in the general election.

 The general election will be held Nov. 6, with details on early voting dates and times to be announced.

 Meanwhile, with 991 votes, Amanda Edwards narrowly edged out Nancy Nehls Nelson in the District 2 county commissioner primary. Nehls Nelson, a retired project manager for AT&T Bell Labs who won the Democrat primary last year, received 980 votes this time.

 Edwards is the executive director of the A-B Tech Foundation and former a director of the local American Red Cross and Literary Council. Important issues for her will be pursuing best practices in education and restoring trust in county government.

 Other candidates were Weaverville Town Council member and executive director of Mountain BizWorks Patrick Fitzsimmons (571 votes) and EMT Dereck Lindsey (191 votes).

Edwards will run against Republican Glenda P. Weinart in the general election. Incumbent Ellen Frost opted not to run for re-election.

 In the District 3 county commissioner primary, Donna Ensley, former chief development officer for MANNA FoodBank, won by a longshot with 1,170 votes. She defeated N.C. Stage Company production manager Catori Swann (402 votes) and medicinal marijuana advocate Taylon Breeden (258 votes).

 Ensley, who expresses interest in ensuring a broad-base of quality services and opportunities for residents, will face off against incumbent Republican Robert Pressley in the general election.

 Incumbent District Attorney Todd Williams defeated lawyer/musician/activist Ben Scales 4,722 to 3,256 in the district attorney race. Absent a Republican challenger, Williams will continue serving for another term.

 In the only state-level race, former Buncombe County Republican Party Chair Nathan West announced he was dropping out of the race, and pledged his support to Amy Evans, a former executive administrator for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Foundation, in the Republican race for N.C. House District 115.

That practically backfired, as West’s name could not be removed from the ballot, and he collected 986 votes, compared to Evans’ 1,066. Evans will run against incumbent John Ager in November.

 At the national level, the 10th Congressional District incumbent and whip Patrick McHenry defeated five challengers with 1,540 votes. His next-closest challenger, lawyer and real estate broker Gina Collias, had 525 votes. Other contestants included Chief of Staff at the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship Seth Blankenship (204 votes), former postmaster Jeff Gregory (130 votes), former National Guardsman Ira Roberts (104 votes), and retired nuclear engineer and physician Albert Wiley Jr. (27 votes).

 McHenry will be challenged by Democrat and IT consultant David Wilson Brown in the fall. Brown was the only Democrat to file.

 In the 11th District, incumbent Mark Meadows was challenged by fellow Republican Chuck Archerd, who failed in a bid for Buncombe County chair during the last election cycle. Archerd explained he fully supported Meadows, and he would not campaign, but he did not want a Democrat to walk right in free to office should rumors prove true about Meadows accepting an appointment in the Trump administration. Meadows won 2,269 to 361.

 On the Democrat side of the aisle, small business owner Philip G. Price narrowly defeated retired Air Force officer and professor Steve Woodsmall 3,820 to 3,772. A third candidate, Pardee Hospital’s Chief of Staff D. Scott Donaldson, collected 2,904 votes.

 In another race that had potential to impact leadership in Buncombe County government, Asheville City Councilman Keith Young primaried incumbent Alma Adams in Charlotte’s 12th Congressional District.

 While campaigning outside his district, he actually came in second place in a four-way race, collecting 2,549 votes to Adams’ 38,849 votes.