Suzanne Matthews appears to have a commanding lead over her primary challenger Nicolle Phair in the race to be Lee and Harnett county’s next district attorney.
As of 9:53 p.m. Tuesday night, with most precincts reporting, Matthews had 9,282 votes to Phair’s 3,118. Matthews is an assistant district attorney under retiring chief prosecutor Vernon Stewart, a Democrat. Phair is a Lee County attorney in private practice.
Matthews will face Democrat R. Andrew Porter in November.
Meanwhile, with 42 of 59 precincts reporting as of the same time, Republican Terry Rose appears to have won the primary for the District Court Judge seat covering Lee, Harnett and Johnston counties over fellow Republican Charlene Nelson with more than 65 percent of the vote. No Democrat filed for the seat, meaning Rose appears set to win the seat.