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While the county commissioner and school board races likely attracted the attention of most Stanly County residents, there were several high-profile statewide primary races for key positions including U.S. Senate and N.C. Supreme Court.

2022 NC Primary Election Results

In unofficial results, U.S. Rep. Ted Budd won the US Senate primary or the Republican nomination, defeating former Gov. Pat McCrory, former Rep. Mark Walker and 11 other Republicans on Tuesday. Budd, who hopes to replace Sen. Richard Burr who is retiring, will face former N.C. Chief Justice Cheri Beasley in the general election Nov. 8.

Across the state, Budd, who began serving in Congress in 2017, won 59 percent of the vote, with McCrory coming in a distance second with 25 percent of the vote. In Stanly, he actually did better, receiving 62 percent of the vote.

Just like her upcoming opponent in the general election, Beasley, who served as chief justice from March 2019 through 2020, also dominated in the Democratic primary, winning 81 percent of all votes across the state. No other candidate received more than 3.5 percent of the vote. In Stanly, it was a little more competitive, with Beasley winning 70 percent of the vote.

Republican lawyer Trey Allen, who grew up in Robeson County and is a Marine Corps veteran, won the Republican primary for North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice on Tuesday, receiving 55 percent of the vote, to easily defeat April Wood (36 percent) and Victoria Prince (8 percent). In Stanly, Allen did even better, getting 70 percent of the vote.

For two Republican primary races for North Carolina Court of Appeals positions, Donna Stroud defeated Beth Freshwater Smith, by securing 60 percent of the votes, while Michael Stading beat Charlton Allen, winning 71 percent of the votes. While Stading won Stanly with 76 percent of the vote, Stroud lost to Smith in the county 57 percent to 43 percent.

Stroud was first elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals in 2006, was rejected in 2014 and was named Chief Judge of the court by N.C. Chief Justice Paul Newby last year. 

Stading, who lives in Matthews, has been a prosecutor in Mecklenburg County, a district court judge and a JAG officer in the U.S. Air Force, according to his website.