RANDOLPH COUNTY — Lester Rivenbark, his family and supporters started working more than a year before the Republican primary for the Randolph County Board of Commissioners, seeking a path to victory as a challenger, but Rivenbark said he wasn’t prepared on election night for the scope of his win.
In his first bid for elected office, Rivenbark won a three-candidate primary March 5 with 44% of the vote, besting fellow District 5 challenger Chris McLeod’s 31% and third-term incumbent Maxton McDowell’s 25%.
“I was absolutely surprised by the margin,” Rivenbark said, adding that his base of volunteers wouldn’t be outworked. “I didn’t have name recognition, and that fueled us to work even harder.”
Rivenbark credits his primary victory to faith, prayer and hard work getting his backers to the polls.
“The Lord laid it on my heart to do this,” Rivenbark told The High Point Enterprise. “And if you are going to do something the Lord has asked you to do, you better do it with all your might.”
Rivenbark, 35, who lives in the southwestern part of the county and works as an operations manager for a demolition company, will face Democrat Jane Ledwell-Gant of Asheboro in the fall general election. The winner will take the oath of office in December to serve a four-year term.
In the primary, Rivenbark said, his emphasis on preserving farmland and the county’s agricultural industry resonated with voters. Even with the development of the Toyota North Carolina electric car battery manufacturing complex at the Greensboro-Randolph megasite, agriculture remains a critical segment of the county economy, he said.
“The southern part of the county that I will represent is predominately all farmers,” Rivenbark said.
Another campaign platform involves Rivenbark’s commitment to fully fund the Randolph County Sheriff’s Office and municipal police departments in the county.
“They are men and women of the county who are putting their life on the line to protect the citizens each and every day,” he said. “So we need to make sure they have the resources they need to protect the citizens of Randolph County.”
One of Rivenbark’s long-term goals is to back policies that keep Randolph County a family-friendly place to live to young people will want to stay.
“If we don’t put families first, we are a dying county,” he said. “We want people in Randolph County to be proud of where they come from.”
The Randolph County Board of Commissioners has five members serving staggered terms. The board has been all-Republican for several decades.
The other board race this year is in District 1, where GOP Commissioner Kenny Kidd is up against Democrat Bill McCaskill. Both candidates are from Asheboro.
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