Wayne Sasser finished what he started with his home county reaping the benefits of Tuesday’s victory.

Sasser completed his victorious run in 2018 en route to capturing the N.C House, Dist. 67. His win also means Stanly County retains ownership of the coveted seat in the legislature. The Stanfield Republican defeated Democrat Karen Webster and Libertarian Michael Finn to secure the House race in decisive fashion.

Sasser garnered 14,506 votes in Stanly alone, or 77 percent of the vote. Webster got 3,673 votes while Norwood’s Finn collected 647 votes.

“We’ve worked hard,” Sasser said about the campaign and Tuesday’s long day at the polls. “It took about 100 people to cover all the polling places.”

Sasser said he spent the day in Cabarrus County, the home of Webster and where he did not fare as well in the primary.

But the extra work paid off with Sasser winning Cabarrus County with 9,380 votes to Webster’s 4,244. Voters there awarded Finn with 483 votes.

Sasser said he remained confident in Stanly, which catapulted him to victory in the GOP primary where he defeated five-term incumbent Justin Burr.

But this was a different race in a redrawn district. Instead of sharing part of Montgomery County, Stanly now joins Cabarrus as its legislative partner.

Although Finn finished in a distant third, he vows to run again.

“I will be running again in two years and I will most likely be more actively involved in the meantime than in this election cycle,” Finn said.

Webster did not immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

Perhaps Sasser’s best campaign stump began months ago when he got involved politically. He had been visiting the General Assembly and developing relationships with other legislators in anticipation of a victory.

In addition to taking an active role with the opioid epidemic gripping the state, especially Stanly, Sasser worked behind the scenes to foil legislative efforts to change the sales tax distribution in the county.

Democrat keeps House seat

Joining Sasser in those efforts was N.C. House Democrat Ken Goodman, D-Richmond. While Goodman lost the battle in four of 23 precincts in Stanly, the incumbent in District 66 claimed the war by narrowly edging Republican Joey Davis, 13,361-12,338.

Courtesy of a larger margin of victory in his home county of Richmond, Goodman held onto the seat in what is now a vulnerable district, at least in terms of politics.

“The Republican candidate is supposed to win the district by 6 points. Given that, I’m pleased to have prevailed,” Goodman said of the newly-drawn district that includes all of Richmond and Montgomery counties and a small portion of Stanly.

Goodman credits his victory to his moderate record that also appeals to some Republicans and Unaffiliated voters.

“Once elected, I represent everybody,” he added.

Although local Republicans dominated election results, Democrats managed to derail a supermajority in the General Assembly. Consequently, both parties will rely on working across party lines to accomplish legislation.

Political moderation also prevailed in the constitutional amendments on the ballot.