WLOSers had a pretty good night Tuesday as their reporters stayed atop of key races. Here’s a quick look:
Michelle Boudin scored the first big “get” with her live report of Buncombe County Sheriff Bobby Medford conceding to challenger Van Duncan, the Democrat who used to work for Medford. Talking to Boudin, Medford congratulated Duncan and said he’d had his time in office. Medford also reminded Duncan that when he took office 12 years ago, he did not do any mass firings, which had been done in the past.
There’s no doubt that Duncan will do some house-cleaning, but we’ll have to watch and see how the transition goes. Duncan will take office in early December.
WLOSers also got good reaction from Duncan, who said he was excited about the job ahead.
Pat Simon stuck with U.S. Rep. Charles Taylor and Russ Bowen hung with Heath Shuler and the Dems. Simon didn’t really bring us any insight, except to say that the mood was generally subdued with Republicans. But WLOSers did bring us Taylor’s concession speech live. Same with Russ – no great insights as returns came in, but they did have Shuler’s live acceptance speech. Later in the night, Russ had an interview with Shuler.
WLOSers also brought us results in other key races, from Polk County’s sheriff’s race to Henderson County’s building height referendum to the race in the far west between state Sen. Keith Presnell and challenger Joe Sam Queen. (Queen, the Dem, won).