By David Rogers. BLOWING ROCK, N.C. — Never doubt the power of incumbency and hard work — that may have been the message on Nov. 7 when currently sitting Commissioner David Harwood and political newcomer Cat Perry nearly doubled the votes cast for challengers Hunt Broyhill and Jamie Dixey.
Since Broyhill and Dixey were the acknowledged candidates with ties to and endorsed by Blowing Rock Civic Association, at least some observers have concluded that Tuesday’s vote was a profound, collective town statement against BRCA. While that may or may not be true, the fact that Harwood is an incumbent perceived as a thoughtful, articulate presence on the current council may well have propelled him as the top vote-getter with 423 ballots cast for him. Perry (411 votes) was not far behind and was widely viewed as the hardest-working, grassroots campaigner in this election. Those factors should not be discounted.
Perhaps the only thing lending credence to the anti-BRCA explanation is how uniform were the voting tallies. Harwood and Perry, with 423 and 411 votes respectively, were clearly separated from Broyhill’s 228 votes and Dixey’s 219. The 12-vote differential between the top two candidates is almost identical to the 9-vote difference between the bottom two, suggesting that there were two “camps” in this election with very little overlap.
Running unopposed, incumbent Mayor Charlie Sellers was elected for another term, with 561 votes.
The new commissioners and mayor will be sworn in during the December meeting of Town Council, along with an acknowledgement of outgoing commissioner Albert Yount’s longtime service.
