Pam Hemminger

In a tight Democratic primary involving 3 candidates for 2 seats in Orange County's district 1, civil rights attorney and former Carrboro alderman Mark Dorosin came out ahead with 10,474 votes. He will be joined on the Board of Commissioners by current Chapel Hill Town Council member Penny Rich (9709 votes). Because there was no Republican primary in district 1 this year, Dorosin and Rich will take their seats after the general election in November. They will replace outgoing commissioner Valerie Foushee and incumbent commissioner Pam Hemminger (9167 votes).

Filing for the Orange County Board of Commissioners election begins February 11th. Of the folks rumored to be considering a run, Chapel Hill-Carrboro School Board Chair Pam Hemminger has been at the top of the list, and on Monday the Orange Chat blog made it official. Another likely candidate is Bernadette Pelissier of the Orange-Chatham Sierra Club (and formerly of the OWASA Board). I've also heard rumbling about an African American challenger from the county, and of course incumbent Valerie Foushee is expected to run for re-relection as well.

An interesting question emerges about which candidates will run in their respective districts, and which will go for the at-large seat. District 1 (Chapel Hill & Carrboro) will be electing 2 seats, while the rest of the county will elect one person from District 2.

With Moses Carey Jr. running for state Senate and two additional seats on the county Board of Commissioners, we'll have some new faces on the board next year.