2024 election: will county commision move right, left, or stay the same? | Eastern North Carolina Now

The total mess known as "limited voting", once a favorite of the Chinese communists, that Beaufort County voters struggle under creates three election possibilities for this year's county commission and make it difficult to predict which way it will go.  The set of commissioners elected this year could easily move to the right, move to the left, or stay the same.

There are six candidates running for four seats, and each voter only gets one vote. The race includes four incumbents and two non-incumbents.  The incumbents are conservative Republican Hood Richardson, moderate Republican Randy Walker, moderate Republican John Rebholz, and liberal Democrat Jerry Langley.  The non-incumbents are conservative Republican Tandy Dunn and very liberal Democrat Johnny Rodman.  If Dunn wins one of the seats, it will likely move the commission to the right.  If Rodman wins one, it will definitely move the commission to the left, even if he replaces Langley.

With a long career as a government bureaucrat, one would immediately place Rodman on the left side of the spectrum.  However, the involvement of Rodman and a family member with "The Resistance" a movement created by the far left after President Trump's election in 2016 to oppose him in any way possible, shows his true colors. The specific hard left organization here was called "Indivisible".  While Rodman stayed in the background more so than his close family member, he was clearly a supporter.  He is one of the most liberal candidates ever to run for Beaufort County commissioner.

Here is the facebook page of Beaufort County Indivisible that Rodman and his close family member have been involved with:

https://www.facebook.com/BCIndivisible/

Dunn is a former law enforcement officer with longtime involvement with the volunteeer fire departments, who has spent recent years working in the private sector.  He says his main reason for running is to oppose what he calls 'stupid spending."

The incumbents are well known  and have run well in the past.  The county could easily see the same four re-elected.  Guessing what may happen with the weird system of limited voting, however, means anything is possible.  A normal system of at-large voting with each voter having their full normal voting rights of four votes for four seats, would almost certainly elect the four Republicans