(The Center Square) – North Carolina state Sen. Phil Berger, the Rockingham County Republican leading his chamber since 2011, kept alive hopes for a 14th term by filing at least four protests and requesting a recount in his District 26 race with Sam Page.
At time of publication, the exact nature of the protests was unclear. The Rockingham County sheriff had a two-vote lead on primary Election Night, and it grew to 23 through the official canvass on Friday.
In a statement, Berger’s team confirmed the recount request and said it would not comment further. Page’s statement said in part, “Phil Berger has the right to request a recount, and I’m confident it will confirm the outcome. We won.”
Berger, in his request to the State Board of Elections, requested any machine identifying an overvote or undervote be counted by hand during the initial recount. He wrote, “By counting the overvotes and undervotes by hand during the first machine recount process, the candidates and the public can have confidence in the accuracy of the vote count in this very close race without the need to conduct a full hand-to-eye recount of all votes cast.”
An example of an overvote, the state board says, is when a ballot has two choices in a “Vote for One” contest. An undervote would be when the number of choices is less than the maximum number allowed.
Berger, his request says, believes there is one overvote and 134 undervotes in Rockingham County and two overvotes and 83 undervotes in Guilford County.
Page was fifth in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor in 2024. He’s been sheriff in Rockingham County – he and Berger are each from the community of Eden – since 1998.
Each aligned with second-term Republican President Donald Trump on policy, Berger and Page clashed on a proposal that could have landed a casino in their home county. Berger was for it, Page against. Berger eventually stopped pursuit of the project.
Page leads 13,136-13,113. He led in Rockingham County 9,065-4,526. Berger was better in Guilford County 8,587-4,071.
Early voters favored Page 6,256-5,291.
Berger has been president pro tempore of the chamber since the 2010 midterm elections gave Republicans majorities in both chambers for the first time since Reconstruction 140 years earlier.
The Senate’s Republican leadership team behind Berger includes Sens. Ralph Hise of Mitchell County, deputy president pro tempore; Michael Lee of New Hanover County, majority leader; and Amy Galey of Alamance County and Todd Johnson of Union County, both majority whips.
The state board also has on file three other recount requests – for seats on the Orange County Commission, Forsyth County Board of Education, and Cleveland County Board of Education.
