The executive committee of the New Hanover County Democratic Party (NHCDP) nominated Margie Gewirtzman, who edged out Kristina Mercier by a single vote.
Gewirtzman will fill the vacancy left by Rick Southerland, who dropped out of the race for the New Hanover County school board under rapidly mounting pressure from the NHCDP and fellow Democrats. Those calls for him to step down followed reporting from WHQR that he had chosen not to disclose to the party or the public that he was living with a registered sex offender.
Southerland had placed fourth out of six candidates competing for four slots in the general election; Gewirtzman placed fifth, trailing by about 1.5 percentage points, according to preliminary results. Former school board member Nelson Beaulieu placed last, and did not throw his hat in the ring alongside Gewritzman and Mercier.
Mercier, a former teacher, had been unable to register for the primary because she had too recently switched her party affiliation from unaffiliated to Democrat. After Southerland’s exit, she signaled her interest in being his replacement, setting up a ‘mini-primary’ between her and Gewirtzman.
Gewirtzman now joins Brittnei LaRue, Wendy Dale, and Jerry Jones, Jr. as Democratic school board candidates in the general, along with Republicans Dr. Amy Dunning, Pat Bradford, Josie Barnhart, and Chris Sutton.
