Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In the election to replace Michael Huneycutt as Clerk Of Superior Court, Ginger Efird defeated Todd Lowder Tuesday night, taking home 79% of the electorate with 18,161 votes.

Efird is currently the administrative assistant to the District Attorney of Prosecutorial District 28, a leadership role within the court system she has maintained since 2007.

Lowder, who is Stanly County’s chief magistrate and previously worked as a sheriff deputy under the late Ralph Lee McSwain, received 21 percent of the vote (4,932).

Efird secured the victory by receiving more than 7,000 more Election Day votes and more than 6,000 early in-person votes, according to the election results.

“I am very excited about this next chapter in my life,” Efird said. “I have spent my career preparing for this new role and I know that I will serve Stanly County well.”

She said her priorities will be to make sure her office abides by the laws of the state and that it serves the citizens of Stanly County “efficiently and effectively in our jobs.”

Efird said she has talked with Huneycutt, who she has worked with for the past 16 years, and is confident “I will make him proud.”

Huneycutt, who has served as clerk for four terms, will step down at the end of November. He first got elected to the position in November 2006.

Looking back on his career as the clerk of the court, he told The Stanly News & Press last December that it had been “my privilege and honor to help people navigate some of the waters” of the judicial system. What he will miss most about his job, he added, will be the people, including his staff that’s he’s worked with over the years.