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Three of four incumbents win primary challenges
vote

Editor's note: At bottom of the page is a link to a PDF of the results. 

Bryan County Board of Education incumbents Amy Murphy, chairwoman; District 4 member Marianne Smith and David Schwartz, who represents District 5; each handily won their respective Republican primary races and will advance to the November general election, according to unofficial election results released late Tuesday night by the Bryan County elections office.

Results still have to be certified by the Secretary of State’s office before they’re official.

District 1 incumbent Pamela Gunter narrowly lost to challenger Shawn Page, by a 617-572 margin.

Page will now face Democrat Melissa Alewine, who ran unopposed.

Murphy got nearly 70 percent of the vote in her defeat of Scott Novinski, 3,987-1,822. She will face Democrat Teresa Timmons, who ran unopposed, and independent Kate Strickland in the November election.

Smith won the District 4 Republican primary by a 1,182-519 margin over Rebecca Ricker, and will go on to face Democrat Walteria Maine, who was unopposed.

Schwartz got more than 64 percent of the vote to outdistance both Lisa Fernandez and Toriano Gilbert in District 5. He received 635 votes, more than Fernandez (251) and Gilbert (101) combined.

Schwartz will face Democrat Patricia Hewitt in the general election in November.

Voters also were asked to vote on whether Pembroke should be able to sell package liquor in the city limits – they approved it 259-135 – and to renew the one-cent Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax.

TSPLOST passed 4,846-2,919.

A handful of other local races saw candidates run unopposed. County Commissioners Wade Price (D-2) and Dr. Gene Wallace (D-5) are both returning to office. Newcomer Patrick Kisgen ran unopposed for the District 4 seat. None face a Democrat candidate in the fall.

There was one issue voting in Precinct 2 in Ellabell, where election officials had set up a precinct in a mobile unit. That led to long hours of waiting past the polls closing at 7 p.m. Bryan County Board of Elections Chairman Tom Hand apologized in a letter in today’s News.

Bryan County primary election results


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