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Candidates In Their Own Words: Before You Head To The Polls, Check Out Videos of Local Candidates

By Jesse Wood

The Boone Area Chamber of Commerce sponsored a “Meet the Candidates” forum in late October in an effort to inform voters about local issues and the candidates that are running for office.

Most of the candidates for U.S. House District 5, N.C. 24th Judicial District, Watauga County Board of Education, Watauga County Board of Commissioners, N.C. Governor, N.C. Senate District 45 and N.C. House District 93 attended. Below are videos of the round-robin Q-&-A session and the candidate’s closing statements.

See full comments from candidates, including closing statements, per race below:

Early voting for the general election continues through Saturday, Nov. 5. Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 8, and while same-day registration is available during early voting, that is not an option during Election Day.

Click here for dates, times and locations regarding.

Click here to see more coverage of candidates and election.


Becca Eggers-Gryder, candidate for 24th Judicial District

Josh Teague, candidate for 24th Judicial District


Rep. Virginia Foxx (I) (R) v. Josh Brannon (D)


Watauga Commissioners: District 1, 2 and 4

Six candidates are running for three seats on the Watauga County Board of Commissioners, which is broken into five districts. Three of those district seats are up for election:

District 1: Perry Yates (I) (R) v. Diane Blanks (D)

District 2: Elizabeth Shukis v. Welch (I) (D)

District 4: David Blust (I) (R) v. Larry Turnbow (D)


Watauga County Board of Education

Incumbents Barbara Kinsey, Brenda Reese and Ron Henries and former education board member Steve Combs are running for three seats on the school board.


State House, State Senate and N.C. Governor Races

Gov. Pat McCrory and gubernatorial challenger Roy Cooper didn’t grace the stage with their presence on Tuesday, but libertarian Lon Cecil did. Candidates for N.C. House District 93 – incumbent Republican Rep. Jonathan Jordan and Democratic challenger Sue Counts – and N.C. Senate 45 District (Republican Rep. Deanna Ballard and Democratic challenger Art Sherwood – also answered questions from the moderator.

*I = Incumbent
*R & D = Republican and Democrat