2026 Midterm Election Results in Franklin and Granville Counties

County Beacon Newsletter #22

The Granville County Convention and Expo Center during early voting

The 2026 Midterm elections are over, and unofficial results are in. The North Carolina State Board of Elections will certify the midterm election on Nov. 24. We’ve heard a lot about the “blue tsunami” that swept state and federal elections. North Carolina saw the highest midterm turnout (53%) statewide since 1990, and the second-highest since at least 1974.

Statewide Election Results

That's a historic turnout, and it deserves celebration. But what would happen to our communities if more people felt engaged and involved enough to vote? We can’t help but wonder what it would look like if the 24,248 registered voters in Franklin and 17,570 registered voters in Granville who did not cast a ballot had participated because they felt they had a stake in helping to build their community.

That’s not all on them — there are lots of valid reasons folks don’t vote in elections. It’s part of what we’re trying to address at County Beacon by engaging more people in civic conversations and centering the voices of those who are often left out. Now, let's dig into what happened right here in Franklin and Granville Counties.

Franklin County Highlights

57.88% turnout, meaning 33,324 out of 57,572 registered voters cast a ballot
That’s a 3.02-point increase over the last midterm election in 2022 (54.86% turnout)
Compare that to the last presidential election in 2024, when turnout was 78.08%.
Black voter turnout was up 12.7 points compared to 2022.
Voters re-elected Sheriff Kevin White, County Commissioners Harry Foy and David Bunn, and School Board member Paige Sailes.
Down Home member Darrin Wilder was elected to the Board of Commissioners and Scott Graham, Steven Gupton and Jonathan Vanderford won seats on the Franklin County School Board.

Granville County

58.32% turnout, meaning 24,582 out of 42,152 registered voters cast a ballot.
That’s a 3.08-point increase over the last midterm election in 2022 (55.24% turnout)
Compare that to the last presidential election in 2024, when turnout was 77.08%.
Black voter turnout in Granville was up 14 points compared to 2022.
Voters narrowly re-elected Sheriff Robert Fountain and elected three Republicans to the County Board of Commissioners: Joe Sinnema, Amanda LaBrecque and Josh Shank.

Both Franklin and Granville approved the constitutional amendments at a slightly higher rate than the statewide vote.

Granville and Franklin Counties are both part of the NC Superior Court’s 11th district, where two Superior Court seats and the district attorney’s race were all won by Republicans running unopposed.

After the Election Comes Accountability

We can’t expect one election to solve every concern we have for the next several years. Voting shouldn't be the end of our journey - it should be the beginning. We need to keep holding elected leaders accountable and asking questions like: