Brown, Shuler to advance, compete for chair of Swain commissioners
Republican Robbie Brown will advance to the November election.
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Republican Robbie Brown and Democrat Jeramy Shuler, with 510 and 610 votes, respectively, have won their respective Primaries for chair of the Swain County Commissioners and will face each other on the November ballot. On the Republican side, current commissioner Bobby Jenkins trailed Brown with 443 votes, representing 31% of Republican ballots. Courtney (Wilde) Dills received 24.35%; 8.96% of voters cast their ballots for the withdrawn candidate Eugene Shuler.
Brown swore he never saw himself as a politician but said some issues in Swain County are too hard to ignore — like the need to fund the public school system, to collaborate with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and neighboring boards of county commissioners, and to improve county infrastructure.
Democrat Jeramy Shuler walked away from the Primary with 67.91% of votes, beating out Edward Larry Simonds, who won only 32.09% of Democratic Primary voters.
Shuler, a small business owner and a captain with the Bryson City Fire Department, said strengthening public safety, building out more resilient infrastructure and cooperating with regional officials would be among his first actions if elected chair.
Check back with The Smoky Mountain News for full results and detailed analysis across Haywood, Jackson, Macon and Swain counties in our March 11 issue.
