From Staff Reports 

While Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer and second-term City Council member Kim Roney were the top two finshers in the mayoral race to advance to the general election on Nov. 8, the 11-candidate field for City Council was whittled down to six hopefuls who will advance, based on unofficial results in the non-partison city primary election on May 17.

In the council primary, the top six finishers advancing were newcomer Maggie Ullman Berthiuame (with 16.79 percent of the votes), Sheneika Smith (1523 percent), Antanette Mosley (14.87 percent), Allison Scott (9.96 percent), Nina Tovish (7.94 percent) and Andrew Fletcher (7.68 percent). Smith and Mosley were the only incumbents on the ballot.

Missing the cut for the council were Will Hornaday (7.12 percent), Doug Brown (6.93 percent), Andy Ledford (6.36 percent), Alex Cobb (5.7 percent) and Grant Millin (1.41 percent).

After the results were known on primary night, local NPR affiliate BPR quoted Manheimer, who has served two terms as mayor, as saying in an interview with the radio station the following:

“We are definitely a split community. I think you see that tonight... not in my race necessarily, but in the district attorney’s race, for example. We’re a progressive community, but with differences of opinions on terms of approach.”

The radio station also quoted Roney, who has trade jabs with Manheimer, as saying the following in BPR’s Mayoral Forum in April:

“I’m running for mayor, not because I can fix all the challenges by myself, but because I’m committed to a process and a open meetings policy that instead of excluding people from solutions invites people to the table to bring their professional and lived experience, to work on the challenges ahead of us together.”

Meanwhile, besides state Rep. Chuck Edwards’ razor-thin win over incumbent U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn in the GOP primary for Cawthorn’s 11th District seat, Jasmine Beach-Ferrara won handily in the Democratic primary for the seat, with 66.12 percent of the vote, to advance against Edwards to face-off in the Nov. 8 election.

In the District 49 state Senate race for Julie Mayfield’s seat, Mayfield won the Democratic primary with 68.28 percent of the vote, followed by Asheville City Council member Sandra Kilgore (20.69 percent) and Taylon Breeden (11.03 percent). Kilgore previously told the Daily Planet that if she lost in her bid for Mayfield’s state Senate seat, she would remain a council member.

In the Republican primary for Mayfield’s seat, Pratik Bhakta (50.02 percent of the vote) nipped — by seven votes — Sherry M. Higgins (49.98 percent) Higgins said she plans to request a recount, as per the law.

For Buncombe County district attorney, incumbent Todd Williams won by a slim, 155-vote margin in the Democratic primary, with 34.74 percent of the vote, followed closely by Courtney Booth (34.35 percent). Other vote-getters in the DA’s race were Doug Edwards (29.64 percent) and Joe Bowman (1.26 percent). No Republicans ran in the DA primary.

The DA’s race result between Williams and Booth “is eligible for a recount under North Carolina election laws, according to Buncombe County spokeswoman Lillian Govus,” the Asheville Citizen Times reported. “A candidate is eligible to call for a recount if the difference in votes is less than 1 percent of the total votes case, Govus said.”

In the Buncombe sheriff’s race, incumbent Sheriff Quentin Miller (with 86.22 percent of the vote) clobbered David Hurley (13.78 percent) in the Democratic primary.

In the GOP primary for sheriff, Jeff Worley won 58.43 percent of the vote, followed by Ben Jaramillo (29.48 percent) and Adrian (A.J.) Fox (12.10 percent). Fox died recently, but still garnered votes.

In the District 1 primary race for Buncombe Board of Commissioners, incumbent Al Whitesides advanced with 71.39 percent of the votes, followed by fellow Democrat Bill Branyon at 28.61 percent. Whitesides did not have any GOP opponents.

As noted by Asheville television station WLOS (News 13), “for the first time since 1931, Asheville city voters will cast a ballot (in the primary) that includes candidates for the school board,” with the top eight vote-getters advancing to the Nov. 8 election.

The top eight finishers for the city School Board included Amy Ray (who received 17.19 percent of the vote), Sarah Thornburg (16.25 percent), Rebecca Strimer (14.29 percent), Pepi Acebo (13.03 percent), Liza English-Kelly (12.71 percent), Jesse J. Warren (11.48 percent), William “Bill” Young Jr. (6.78 percent) and Miri Massachi (5 percent).