Weatherman, Boliek, Knott win GOP primaries in low turnout runoffs

Hal Weatherman won Tuesday's runoff primary for Lt. Governor. (Courtesy photo)

Hal Weatherman easily won Tuesday’s primary runoff contest against Forsyth County District Attorney Jim O’Neill to become the Republican nominee in North Carolina’s lieutenant governor’s race. Weatherman, who was chief of staff to former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, captured 74% of Tuesday’s vote to O’Neill’s 25%. Weatherman now faces Democrat Senator Rachel Hunt.

Mark Robinson, who currently holds the office, endorsed Weatherman in Tuesday’s runoff.

Despite the availability of early voting and voting by mail, overall turnout for the second primary was tiny — less than 3%.

In one of Tuesday’s closer contests, UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees member Dave Boliek edged CPA Jack Clark by a little more than 8,100 votes in the Republican primary in the NC Auditor’s race. Boliek will face incumbent Democrat Jessica Holmes in November. Holmes was chosen by Gov. Roy Cooper last year to fill former Auditor Beth Wood’s unexpired term.

In North Carolina’s 13th congressional district, Republican Brad Knott collected more than 91% of the vote. The outcome in that race was not a surprise. Kelly Daughtry, the daughter of former House Majority Leader Leo Daughtry, suspended her campaign in early May, handing the race to Knott even though her name remained on Tuesday’s ballot.

At the time Daughtry said that in light of President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Knott, she could see that a pathway to victory was no longer feasible.

“I believe in the democratic process and respect the endorsement of our President,” said Daughtry in a statement on her campaign Facebook page.

Knott moves on to face Democrat and small business owner Frank Pierce in November.

The 13th district was redrawn by Republican state legislators last year to make this essentially a Republican district. U.S. Rep. Wiley Nickel who currently holds the seat announced last December that he would not seek a second term because the heavily gerrymandered map left him with a district he could not win.

Find full election results on the NC State Board of Elections dashboard.

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