In the race for Matthews mayor, incumbent Paul Bailey and town Commissioner John Higdon will move on to next month’s general election. They were the top two vote-getters in Tuesday's primary.
Higdon got 55% of the vote and Bailey got 42%, according to preliminary results from the Mecklenburg County Board of Elections. The town held a primary because three people were running for mayor. Political newcomer Jason Majewski is now out of the race.
Matthews was the only municipality in Mecklenburg County with an election Tuesday, but not the only one in the Charlotte area.
A mayoral primary also was held in Mooresville. Challenger Angela Carruba Stutts just edged out incumbent Miles Atkins, according to the Iredell County Board of Elections. Stutts and Atkins will move on to next month’s ballot; Darryl Cerro won't.
There also was an election for Statesville City Council in Iredell County on Tuesday. David Jones came out on top in Ward 1, James Pressly in Ward 4 and David Jackson in Ward 6. Each race was crowded, and no one managed to capture more than 50% of the vote. Candidates have until Oct. 17 to call for a runoff, according to the Record & Landmark of Statesville.
Hickory, meanwhile, held primaries for City Council seats in Wards 1, 2 and 3.
But one of those primaries isn't quite over: Two candidates in Ward 3, Nathan Hefner and Daria Jackson tied for second place, according to preliminary results from the Catawba County Board of Elections.
Both second-place candidates had 16 votes. Incumbent Danny Seaver was the top vote-getter in the Ward 3 primary. In Ward 1, Tony Wood and Carmen Eckard will advance to the general election, as will Charlotte Williams and Ernie Masche in Ward 2.
According to the Hickory Daily Record, the Board of Elections plans to hold a recount before canvassing in order to sort out the tie. If that doesn’t work, Board Chair Barry Cheney told the paper, "We'll either have to flip a coin or draw lots or some other method to determine the winner."
Cheney tells WFAE the recount will happen Monday.