On December 17, Drew Robinson, the incumbent sheriff of Martin County, North Carolina, said he will run next year as an independent candidate. He has never before run for Sheriff; he is the incumbent because he was appointed in January 2025.
Martin County is in eastern North Carolina. In November 2024, its vote for president for the major parties was: Republican 54.8%; Democratic 44.5%.
Robinson will need to gather signatures equal to 4% of the number of registered voters as of January 2026. His petition is due in May 2026.
Martin County is a small rural county, with a large (40%) black population. It’s county commission is elected by limited voting, likely due to VRA concerns. Local officials if elected on a partisan basis are “Democrats” (that is what the ballot says), because that is how the voters’ parents and grandparents and great-grandparents had voted going back to 1860s or 1960s depending on race. Democrats still hold a 43% D to 23% R registration advantage, 34% unaffiliated. In 2005 it was 70% D, 18% R, 11% U. D’s have been dying off, R’s have crept up, and new voters have registered U.
The presidential support is atypical. For the NC executive, the county split voting about half and half. The state Democrats were from North Carolina, not South Canada, or worse, California.
The recently appointed sheriff has been with department for 28 years, working his way up through the ranks. The sheriff has always been a “Democrat”. It is possible that local Republicans convinced him to run as an independent. If the Democrats do nominate anyone it would either be a disgruntled deputy who thought he had been passed over, or some outsider without law enforcement experience. In a small county, people actually know their sheriff, probably went to school with him, or know him from church.