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2026 Ashe County Primary Candidates Forum

The 2026 Ashe GOP candidate forum was held on Tuesday, February 10th, at 5:30 pm at the Ashe County courthouse. A warm and interested turnout of 75 local citizens came to hear from 11 candidates.

Participating candidates were requested to submit responses to a Candidate Questionnaire and from their responses a biography and campaign summary was compiled for each candidate into a handout provided to each attendee. This was to optimize the time allotted to each candidate during the forum.

(This handout is available for downloading above.)

The forum was moderated by Ashe County GOP Chairman, Jonathan Jordan.

The forum format for each candidate in a contested race was as follows:

• Opening remarks: 2 minutes

• Two questions from the moderator, with up to 2 minutes per response

• One written question solicited from the audience (drawn from a pool of submitted questions), with up to 2 minutes for response

• Closing remarks: 2 minutes

Attendees were invited to write questions for the candidates and submit these before the forum began to be included in the "hat" from which questions were drawn for each candidate.

The candidates who attended were:

For County Commissioner – Todd McNeill and Jerry Powers

For Register of Deeds – Beth Brooke

For Clerk of Courts – Sherman Lee

For Board of Education – Wes Calbeath, Dianne Eldreth, Shane Little, and Janet Ward

and For Sheriff – Earl Cox, Phil Howell, and Brandon Shepherd

Events like this are critical for informed voters. The Primary is the most important election as it is then that the candidates for each party are selected.

The Primary is YOUR opportunity to make your voice heard about who our actual candidates will be in the upcoming November midterm elections.

The voting schedule is as follows:

Feb. 12, 2026: In-person early voting begins.

Feb. 17, 2026: Absentee ballot request deadline (5 p.m.).

Feb. 28, 2026: In-person early voting ends (3 p.m.).

March 3, 2026: Primary Election Day.

March 3, 2026: Absentee ballot return deadline (7:30 p.m.).

We invite you to checkout other tools and websites in our Resources area to assist you in making your voting decisions.

Tools for getting down to the nitty gritty

Information specified by race and other insightful information

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RONALD REAGAN

The Freedom Index rates members of congress based on their adherence to constitutional principles of limited government, fiscal responsibility, national sovereignty, and a traditional foreign policy of avoiding foreign entanglements.

This site is updated with information as and if the candidates and elected officials provide it.

Federal

Donald J. Trump – United States President

Ted Budd – US Senator North Carolina

Thom Tillis – US Senator North Carolina

Virginia Foxx – 5th District Congresswoman

State

Josh Stein – North Carolina Governor

Rachel Hunt – North Carolina Lt. Governor

Ray Pickett – NC General Assembly Representative 93rd District

Ralph Hise – NC General Assembly Senator 45th District

Local

Commissioners – 336.846.5501

Todd McNeill, Chair

Jerry Powers, Vice Chair

Wes Greene

Russell Killen

Mike Eldreth

Sheriff

B. Phil Howell

Register of Deeds

Deaett Roten

Clerk of Courts – 336.219.1400

Sherman Lee

Board of Education – 336.246.7175

Diane Eldreth

Polly Jones

Josh Roten

Teresa Calhoun

Janet Ward

Municipalities

Jefferson – Town Hall 336.846.9368

Pete Eller, Mayor

Alderman

John Shepherd

Tony Goodman

Tracie McMillan

Cathy Ballou

Brittany Teaster

Lansing – Town Hall 336.384.3938

Mack Powers, Mayor

Alderman

Matt Cordell

Teresa McCoy

Richard Weaver

Tom Richardson

Bobby Peele

West Jefferson – Town Hall 336.246.3551

Rusty Barr, Mayor

Alderman

Calvin Green

Beth Shelton

Brian Blanco

Phillip Absher