May 8. By Dave Vieser. Democratic candidate Christy Clark from Huntersville, has captured the right to run against NC Rep. John Bradford for District 98 this fall. With all precincts reporting, Clark, a paralegal, had won 90 percent of the ballots cast, defeating her challenger Brandon Rosenlieb by a 3258-348 score.

Bradford is the founder of Park Avenue Properties, a Cornelius-based residential property management and real estate investment firm. His opponent in 2016, Democrat Natasha Marcus  of Davidson, will be facing off against NC Sen. Jeff Tarte, also of Cornelius, in November for Senate District 41.

In US House District 12, Democratic Incumbent Alma Adams comfortably defeated her primary opponents, gathering 85 percent of the vote. She will face Republican Paul Wright who won a three-way race with Paul Bonham and Carl Persson.

In the race for at-large seats on the County Commission, incumbents Pat Cotham, Trevor Fuller and Ella Scarborough were well ahead in the Democratic Primary. Cotham, the leading vote getter with 25% of the vote, has worked closely with Republican Commissioner Jim Puckett on a number of issues facing North Mecklenburg residents, including the I-77 toll lanes.

There were also two countywide primary contests which would determine the winning candidates for District Attorney and Sheriff due to the Republican Party’s failure to run a candidate in November.

For District Attorney, Spencer Merriweather, who received a strong endorsement from outgoing Republican DA  Andrew Murray in 2017, won handily with 43,004 votes over challenger Tousant Romain (12,246).

In an upset, incumbent Sheriff Irwin Charmichael was defeated by Garry McFadden in a three-way race. McFadden received 29,840 votes (52.17 percent) while another challenger, Antoine Ensley, captured 15,712 votes (27.47 percent). Charmichael came in third with only 11,648 votes (20.36 percent). McFadden was a 36 year veteran of the Charlotte/Mecklenburg Police Dept.