Election officials share a laugh as they look over the results of Tuesday’s runoff. Pictured are Director of Elections Karen K. Fender (sitting) and (from left) Board of Elections members Ed Adams, Tom Smith and Rudy McKnight.

Foxx defeats Robinson in runoff; local turnout is near 12 percent

Sen. Virginia Foxx handily defeated Vernon Robinson in Alleghany County by a margin of about three to one during the “runoff,” or second primary election, that was held on Tuesday.

According to unofficial results, Foxx earned 427 votes in Alleghany, while Robinson earned 152 votes. That race apparently sparked much interest, with 584 total ballots cast in the Republican runoff, as compared to only 150 in the Democrat runoff.

District-wide, with all 12 counties reporting, Foxx took the victory with 23,064 votes to Robinson’s 19,225. The clincher in the race was Foxx’s surprisingly strong performance in Robinson’s home county of Forsyth, where Foxx was leading right up until final votes were being reported.

In addition to Alleghany, Foxx took the most votes in Ashe, Davie, Surry, Watauga, Wilkes and Yadkin counties. Robinson won in Alexander, Forsyth, Iredell, Rockingham and Stokes counties. The margin of victory in Forsyth was only 52 votes, with Robinson squeaking out a victory at home, 8,395 to 8,343. Robinson’s margin of victory in Alexander was about 250 votes, 759 to 512; fewer than 150 in Stokes (1,424 to 1,286); and 70 in Rockingham (190 to 120). Robinson took Iredell by 439 votes, 1,479 to 1,040. In contrast, Foxx won by handy margins in all of the other counties, with the exception of Yadkin, which was decided by about 53 votes in her favor, 1,727 to 1,674.

About 9 p.m. Tuesday night, Robinson’s camp conceded the race to Foxx. Foxx could not be reached for comment Tuesday night. She was at an election event in Forsyth.

On the Democrat ticket, Marshall Stewart was defeated by June S. Atkinson in the race for Superintendent of Public Instruction by a about 10 percent of the vote. In Alleghany, Atkinson took 81 votes to Stewart’s 64. Statewide, Atkinson took about 43,636 votes (55 percent) to Stewart’s 37,722 votes (45 percent).

Local Statistics/Turnout

The county has 6,232 active registered voters — 3,552 Democrats and 1,893 Republicans. The other 787 voters are registered unaffiliated and were eligible to vote in either primary, but could only vote in the runoff election for the party they selected in the July 20 primary. Of the county’s registered voters, about 12 percent (734 voters) turned out on Tuesday, a figure that local election officials were pleased with under the circumstances.

Board of Elections Chair Ed Adams noted, “It was dismal this morning. I thought we might not get more than 400 votes.” However, once the weather broke in the afternoon, Adams said more people turned out at the polls. “Most of the people voted toward the end of the day,” he said.

With the race being a runoff, Adams said he didn’t know what to expect. “Considering that this is a second primary, I think the turnout was pretty good overall,” he said.

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