By Richard Sullins | richard@rantnc.com
The Lee County Board of Commissioners appointed Republican Eric Davidson Monday night to fill a vacancy left when Taylor Vorbeck resigned earlier in July.
The board voted unanimously to appoint Davidson, most recently a member of the Lee County Board of Education, to the seat. The commissioners took the vote during a special called meeting to consider the appointment, and Davidson was sworn in following the vote.
The District 4 seat Davidson now occupies covers much of western Lee County. He was already a declared candidate for the seat in this fall’s election and will square off against Democrat Jamey Laudate in a race that will decide which political party will control the board for the next two years. Vorbeck was not seeking re-election.
Davidson is well known in Lee County for his broad career across public service, education, and ministry. He is an Asheboro native who has served as pastor at Buffalo Presbyterian Church since 2024 and earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in religious studies at Campbell University. Beyond the pulpit, he is the founder and CEO of EDJE Consulting Group, a Sanford-based leadership and business development firm that focuses on team building, organizational culture and professional training.
Education has been a central thread throughout Davidson’s career. He spent 15 years at Lee Christian School as a teacher, administrator and coach before joining Central Carolina Community College, where he has taught humanities courses and worked in career development roles for more than a decade. Davidson was elected to the Lee County Board of Education in 2022 and served as vice chair in 2023 and chair in 2024.
He’ll serve out the remainder of Vorbeck’s term while continuing his campaign for the seat in November. With his appointment, Davidson steps into county leadership at a moment of transition. Vacancies in his school board seat, as well as that of the late Marcus Mason, are unfilled on the Board of Education as of today, and Republican Party Chair Jim Womack has confirmed to The Rant that fellow Republicans Laura Stryffler and David Smoak will be named to complete those terms in office.
Good prudentials but will he fall right in with Kirk Smith and others to over develope our county instead of fixing what we have. We have people that have paid and been waiting for county water in northern district since in the early 90s. But we are getting a data center against the overwhelming people against it. Please vote Johnathan Boyce for county commissioner in November. He is running unaffiliated against Kirk Smith. Kirk Swith and Jimmy Randolph with Sanford Growth Alliance along with other commissioners have no problem putting a data center in your back yard!! Think about it!!
If you go to the Tri-River website it shows the water lines in Lee and Chatham Counties. The only northern Lee County roads that are not dead end roads without city water are Lower Moncure road below Rosser, NC 42 from Plank Road to Carbonton in Chatham County, and Pickard Road from 42 toward Carthage. Until the City took over the Chatham County system there was no reason to run a long dead end line to the old Hydro Dam because there was not going to be a properly pressurized connection. On Lower Moncure Road the actual density of housing did not support City water. I don’t know about Pickard Road. Part of what Lee County learned when you run water lines into rural areas is that you run the risk of growing mobile homes like mushrooms. The property tax income off them do not come close to paying for the costs of just one kid in the schools. Moreover when you run a big water line through farm lands you have just written the death sentence for farms in the area. That only leaves Lower River Road. Why would the City run a water line down a road that floods with the Cape Fear River when they have the high side of the river on the Chatham side? People have a right to use and develop their land and they are under no obligation to keep it vacant. When these large tracts sell for an industrial or commercial or some other intense development remember the land did sell to a developer – you chose not to buy the land.
A preacher and a politician. What could go wrong?