Five Takeaways From The State And Local Primaries

Tuesday's primary was mostly a night for incumbents to celebrate. But there were a few surprises and races with implications for the fall. Here are five takeaways:

Expect a close race when incumbents square off against each other.

Joyce Krawiec had experience and geography working for her in her race against fellow incumbent Republican Dan Barrett after they were placed in the same district - a result of the ongoing legal battles over how the state's political lines are drawn.

And yet she defeated Barrett by fewer than 300 votes out of more than 13,000 cast for the 31st Senate seat.

It also wasn't exactly a landslide in northwest North Carolina's District 45, where state Sen. Deanna Ballard defeated fellow GOP incumbent Shirley Blackburn Randleman by just over 1,000 votes.

North Carolina will still get a fair bit of attention even though there's no presidential, U.S. senatorial or gubernatorial candidate on the ballot in the fall.

Key among the likely high-profile races will be the 13th District, where first-term incumbent Republican Ted Budd will face Greensboro's Kathy Manning. Manning proved her fundraising chops, raking in well over $1-million for her campaign. The district leans Republican but Democrats see a chance to pull off a win here.

#metoo matters.

Many prominent Democrats urged state Rep. Duane Hall to drop out of the race when sexual harassment allegations arose against him. He didn't.

Hall probably should have taken the advice. Although expected to prevail despite the controversy, challenger Allison Dahl beat him in a landslide. Hall took in just over a quarter of all votes cast in a three-way race. Dahl had almost 70 percent.

There's still a place for spoilers.

Local longtime Republican sheriffs cruised to victory in places like Forsyth, Guilford and Rockingham counties.

The notable exception was one of the highest profile races of them all - Davidson County. It was generally viewed as a race against incumbent Sheriff David Grice versus his past nemesis and former sheriff Gerald Hege.

Hege lost. That wasn't all that surprising, given his failed bid eight years ago.

But Grice lost too. And it wasn't even close.

Retired state highway patrol sergeant Richie Simmons took more than half the votes in a four-way race to earn the nomination. And without a Democrat on the ballot in November, he's poised to be the next sheriff.

Now things get really interesting.

Many legislative candidates were unopposed in the primary, especially where incumbents ran for reelection. That changes in the fall. Both parties have worked hard to field candidates for the general election, with the result that virtually all state Senate and House seats will be contested, a rarity for North Carolina.

And we'll have our share of bellwether races. Key among them could be the U.S 9th District campaign. On Tuesday, Mark Harris defeated three-term incumbent Robert Pittenger, making Pittenger the first sitting U.S. Congressman to lose in the primary this year.

It was a race that largely focused on who was the most conservative, most Trump-supporting of the two, a feature that was common among GOP candidates in contested races.

But campaigning in such a hardline manner could have implications for the fall. Harris will face Democrat Dan McCready. McCready is an Iraq War veteran who has raised more than $1-million for the campaign.