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Second Primary Held Tuesday, Brannon Defeats Henley To Face Foxx, Lacey Defeats Poteat for Commission Seat

By Jesse Wood

July 16, 2014. The second primary was held yesterday and featured two runoff races on the ballots in Avery and Watauga.

Josh Brannon, a software developer in Watauga County, defeated Gardenia Henley, a U.S. Air Force veteran out of Winston-Salem, with nearly 66 percent of the vote to become the Democratic challenger to face District 5 U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx in the general election in November. Brannon received 2,746 votes while Henley received 1,438 votes.

Brannon secured more votes than Henley in the May 6 primary, however he didn’t receive more than the 40 percent required to avoid a runoff.

After his win, Brannon took to Facebook and said to his supporters, “Ok, you convinced me, let’s do this. #outfoxx.”

In Avery County, the only race on the ballots was a race for the final seat on the Avery County Board of Commissioners. Faye Lacey, a Republican, defeated Republican incumbent Chair Kenny Poteat by a margin of 797 to 458. Lacey captured nearly 64 percent of the votes.

Poteat narrowly defeated Lacey in the May 6 primary. Poteat had 1,176 votes (12.45 percent) to Lacey’s 1,094 votes (11.84 percent). Because of the closeness of the third highest votegetter was within one percentage point, Lacey had the opportunity to call for a runoff, which she did.

See statewide and county election results here.

Official results will be tallied after the July 22 canvass.

The general election will be held on Tuesday, Nov. 4, with one-stop voting beginning on Thursday, Oct. 23.