Once upon a time, Election Central was a place where candidates, politicos, media folks, and residents gathered with anticipation and excitement for precinct voting returns along with the comradery and conclusion of a long political season.
Let me emphasize “once upon a time.”
“What great memories there were when all would gather around the chalkboards at the historic courthouse in downtown Fayetteville and wait with anticipation,” said George Breece, the longtime Cumberland County politico who has seen his share of elections. “It was a time of celebration for some, and dreams vanished for others. After months of campaigning, those who opposed one another would hug one another and treat one another with respect. The way it should be. Negative ads had not yet been front and center in politics even though politics is and always will be a contact sport.”
Exciting would be an understatement.
“Then the election night results,” Breece said, “moved to the Holiday Inn Bordeaux.”
When the Election Day polls closed at 7:30 p.m., gentlemen put on their suits and ties or Navy-blue blazers and headed to what was known as Election Central, and the women dressed in their business attire best.
“From chalkboards to white boards and computers, but still the excitement of candidates, their families and supporters,” Breece said. “As the results were posted, you could hear the shouts out loud, applause, and back slapping. The results being posted didn’t matter to some. They were there to see old friends and see if their candidates made it to the ‘Promised Land’ of being elected.”
The Who’s Who of community politics were there, and it seems like everybody else in town, too. Election Central was the place to be, and the place to be seen.
Media folks were there as well, from the radio personalities like Jeff “Goldy” Goldberg, Jim Cooke and Jeff Thompson of WFNC 640 AM (and later WIDU 1600 AM) to Danny Highsmith of WFAY 1230 AM, formerly WFAI AM, and WIDU AM radio owner Wes Cookman and Troy Williams.
The Fayetteville Observer pushed back deadlines for the morning news results, and reporters like the late Pat Reese and Andrew Barksdale were tracking down winning and losing candidates for deadline quotes for headlines to come.
“I was so fortunate to be at the WFNC microphones and table, and interview many on those nights over many years,” Breece said.
He could dissect the numbers.
He could tell you about those Cross Creek precincts that carried the eleventh hour of a long season of a political campaign at end.
‘Absolutely Electric’
“Jim Cooke and I, along with George Breece, did a live broadcast for years at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux on election night,” Goldberg said. “The room was absolutely electric on those nights.”
He can see it in his mind’s eye like yesterday.
“The biggest highlight was having access to the candidates because they were all there in that room,” Goldberg said. “It was a broadcaster’s dream scenario. We tried to get as many as we could on the air while votes were still being counted. It was a time when folks weren’t nearly as hostile as they are today. Candidates from both sides were friendly towards each other because they were friends outside the world of politics
“We watched, in real time, along with the candidates, upsets in the making, and some real surprises. We were able to capture real-time reactions live on the radio. Of course, when we started, they were still using markers and a white board to post the numbers in the room, which gave way to the (state) board of elections website being flashed on a screen in the later years. That was probably more accurate but not nearly as much fun.
“WFNC stopped doing the election night broadcast by 2018, I think, because you could go to your computer for election results and fewer candidates were hanging out at Bordeaux,” he said.
Barksdale recalls election night gatherings, too.
“Yes, I remember going to the Holiday Inn Bordeaux, even before the same results were posted in real time on the internet, beginning around 2004. So, back in 2000, for instance, the results were posted first at the hotel on boards on easels. Don’t remember if they were paper or dry-erase white boards.
“Local radio and local media were there, eagerly and anxiously awaiting to see the latest tallies written or posted on the boards in the room at stations scattered around the room. Clusters of people would gather at each board when an election worker was about to update it. They held their collective breath or cheered or were reticent or stoic, if they didn’t like the results they were seeing.
“The room was filled with a Who’s Who of Fayetteville and Cumberland County,” said Barksdale, who left the newspaper in 2017 and today works for the N.C. Department of Transportation. “Nearly all of the politicos, past and present and especially those seeking re-election, made their way at some point to the hotel to see first-hand the tallies.”
Election Night Gatherings
Election Central is a thing of the past.
The N.C. Board of Elections began live-streaming election results in 2014, according to Linda Devore, chair of the Cumberland County Board of Elections.
“We stopped the in-person election night event after 2022,” Devore said.
Former County Elections Director Angie Amaro, according to Devore, made the decision.
“As I recall, it was based on cost—about $1,000 at Bordeaux—and shrinking attendance due to SBE providing availability in real time on phones and laptops,” Devore said. “We moved to the Crown Ballroom in 2022. Unlike the Bordeaux, there weren’t hospitality suites for individual candidates and party groups to gather together. With hospitality suites no longer available, fewer candidates were interested in hanging around the event for the evening. I argued to spend the reduced price of $500 that the Crown charged, and continue the event, but also understood that election night is demanding enough on staff without also running an event site, especially with less participation by candidates.”
These days, candidates hold private election night gatherings for volunteers and supporters, and all with their collective fingers crossed for victories.
Charles Evans was scheduled to hold an election watch party Tuesday at the home of Barbara Spigner in the Waters Edge subdivision in his bid to return to the Board of Commissioners after a four-year hiatus. (This column was filed Tuesday before polls closed.)
Sen. Val Applewhite was scheduled to stop by the Mable C. Smith Park Recreation Center at 1367 Shad Brush Lane in Cedar Creek, where the Democratic Women of Cumberland County were hosting a watch party from 7–10 p.m.
“I’ll stop by there for a bit,” said Applewhite, who was seeking a third term in the N.C. Senate District 19 seat that represents Cumberland County. “And then head home to watch the national results.”
Pam Carver, who is with the Democratic Women of Cumberland County, said Monday she wasn’t sure about other candidates that might attend. But she was expecting Troy McDuffie, a candidate for sheriff, and a number of school board candidates.
Bryan Moore has run a strong campaign for one of three at-large seats on the Cumberland County Board of Education. Moore was one of 16 candidates.
“I’ll be working the polls until 7:30,” he said Monday, “and then I’ll be heading to the GOP headquarters on Owen Drive for the watch party.”
Greg West, a longtime school board member running for county commissioner, was expected to be there, too.
“This is in the downstairs meeting room under the old ballroom at the Holiday Inn Bordeaux, where Cape Fear Regional Theater is now,” said West. “This is that big meeting room underneath there from 7:30 until the results are in.”
Epilogue
Local election nights just aren’t the same.
“Miss the excitement of the evening,” Danny Highsmith said about Election Central at the old Holiday Inn Bordeaux & Conference Center. “Seeing the candidates (winners and losers), the supporters of the candidates and trying to get the returns on air before our competitors. I remember one election return night when we worked all night. In those days, ballots were counted by hand, so election officials had to wait for each precinct to count and report the votes. Good memories for an old radio guy.”
No argument from Jeff Goldberg.
“It is not lost on me, every time we go to see a Cape Fear Regional Theatre play”, he said, “that years earlier, that room was the hub for Cumberland County election nights.”
George Breece misses those Election Central nights, too.
“Those days and nights are gone now, but those memories remind me of what a great community and nation we live in,” Breece said. “The people decide our leaders here at home, our state and nation. The reporting of election night has certainly changed over these last few decades, but what hasn’t change is how blessed and fortunate we are to live in a country where we have open and free elections, and we still celebrate if now only in our homes on election night.”
Bill Kirby Jr. can be reached at billkirby49@gmail.com or 910-624-1961.
