From Staff Reports 

As Democrats, once again, won all of the contested seats in Buncombe County and Asheville in the Nov. 5 general election, in perhaps the most-watched race, Democrat Amanda Edwards won 60.8 percent of the vote to wallop her unaffiliated challenger Van Duncan in the battle for the chair of the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners.

The county-certified election result on Nov. 16 was Edwards with 89,528 votes, or 60.8 percent, and Duncan with 57,729 votes, or 39.20 percent.

Edwards, 47, now serves as a commissioner, but not as the chair, which is being vacated by Brownie Newman, who is retiring and endored Edwards. Duncan, 60, served three terms as Buncombe sheriff (2006-18) and is a former Democrat.

Edwards will be the first woman to hold the job of commissioners’ chair. She is the executive director of the A-B Tech Foundation.

Duncan, an investigator and police officer for The Biltmore Company, had said that, “if elected, he would use the position to stop current county policies on jail reduction and homelessness,” the Asheville Citizen Times noted on Nov. 7.

“After the election results were announced, Duncan told the Citizen Times that he called Edwards and wished her well,” the ACT reported. “He said Edwards has a huge job ahead of her, as recovery in the wake of  (Tropical Storm) Helene won’t be an easy task.”