In the most hotly contested local race for this primary, George Holding defeated Paul Coble in the Republican Primary for U.S. House District 13.
George Holding at his victory party.
Holding, former U.S. Attorney for the Easter District of North Carolina, received 43.5 percent of the vote. Paul Coble, chair of the Wake County Commission got 34.2 percent.
At his election night party at the Velvet Cloak Inn on Hillsborough Street, Holding said, “All worldly victories and losses pale in comparison. But tonight’s a victory and it was very much a team effort.”
“It’s been a great day. I’ve been driving around all [over] the district, stopping at different polling places. Certainly had to have a barbecue sandwich for lunch, would be bad luck if I spent the last day of the campaign not eating barbecue,” Holding said.
He will face Charles Malone, who won for the Democrats Tuesday, in the November election.
Coble was not available for comment.
Incumbent Dems Keep Seats
In other races, incumbent Rosa Gill won for N.C. House District 33, Yvonne Holley, another incumbent, won House District 38. Neither Gill nor Holley will face a Republican contender in the General Election and they are guaranteed their seats for another term.
Holley had faced competition from Lee Sartain and Abeni El-Amin in the Democratic primary, but won with 60 percent of the vote.
Sartain, speaking at the Player’s Retreat on Hillsborough Street while watching the results come in, said, “One of the things that was good to see was that people were out voting, mainly because of the amendment. But I felt like we ran a good campaign. We knocked on thousands of doors. We mailed lots of people. We made lots of calls. But we’ll wait to have to see what the final numbers are, but I’m glad at least people were out voting.”
NC House 39 Candidate Lee Sartain speaks with supporters at a viewing party for his campaign at Player's Retreat in Raleigh Tuesday evening. (Hide Terada)
Congress
Renee Ellmers, the incumbent Republican with Tea Party credentials who won the 2nd Congressional District two years ago, won the Republican primary and will go up against Democrat Steve Wilkins in the fall.
Republican Tim D’Annunzio won the primary for U.S. House District 4 with 46 percent of the vote. He will face incumbent Democrat David Price in the General Election.
Reporters Saja Hindi, Christin Hardy and Will Huntberry contributed to this report.
Local 2012 Primary Winners
US House 2
Dem: Steve Wilkins
Rep: Renee Ellmers
US House 4
Rep: Tim D’Annunzio
US House 13
Dem: Charles Malone
Rep: George Holding
NC House 33
Dem: Rosa Gill
NC House 38
Dem: Yvonne Holley
NC House 39
Dem: Darren Jackson
NC House 49
Rep: Jim Fulghum
CORRECTION APPENDED: The original article stated George Holding will face incumbent Brad Miller in the fall. Miller retired and Charles Malone will run as the Democrat for the 13th Congressional District.
