Keith Sutton
Keith Sutton (Democratic Party) was a member of the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina, representing District 4. He assumed office in 2009. He left office on December 1, 2021.
Sutton ran for re-election to the Wake County Public School System to represent District 4 in North Carolina. He won in the general election on November 3, 2020.
Sutton (Democratic Party) also ran for election for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction. He lost in the Democratic primary on March 3, 2020.
Biography
Sutton's campaign website listed the following as his biography:
| “ | Keith Sutton’s career as a public servant, advocate, and leader is rooted in a foundation of civil rights and justice for all. Prepared for servant leadership by activist parents, his official career began as Director of the Rocky Mount, North Carolina-based Common Ground organization which promoted the improvement of race and community relations. He says that leading that program honed his consensus-building skills and strengthened his resolve to underscore the needs of humanity as more similar than dissimilar.
After Common Ground, Sutton continued his civil liberties work as Executive Director of the North Carolina NAACP, and was then tapped to demonstrate his leadership skills in the political arena as Field Director for Congresswomen Eva Clayton’s campaign. He subsequently helped her to get re-elected in 1998. His public sector work continued when he went to work in a government relations post with the United States Census Bureau as a Partnership Specialist and Team Leader. In 2000, he led the effort to establish an affiliate of the National Urban League in the Raleigh/Durham area, and served as President and CEO of the Triangle Urban League from 2000 to 2007. In 2008, he joined the Bev Perdue for Governor Campaign as Outreach Coordinator, and later that year served as Deputy Director of the Coordinated Campaign for the North Carolina Democratic Party. He began working for the State of North Carolina in 2009 as the Legislative Affairs Manager for the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, and currently serves as the Victim Advocate Liaison for the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission. That same year, Sutton’s leadership experience was sought to fill the unexpired term of Rosa Gill, and he was then appointed to represent East Raleigh (District 4). Again, his experience as a team player preceded this appointment, having been a member of a number of local boards and commissions. Some of those included the Healthy Schools Task Force; the Raising Achievement and Closing Gaps Task Force; the Board of Directors of the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce; the Southeast Raleigh Assembly; and the Blue Ribbon Committee on the Future of Wake County. He is a member of Wake Chapel Church, the Triangle East Chapter of 100 Black Men, Unity Lodge #64 of Prince Hall Masons, and the Iota Iota Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. for which he currently serves as Vice-Basileus (Vice President). Sutton has received numerous honors and awards for his leadership, commitment to community service, and citizenship. He will be recognized as a 21st Century African-American Trailblazer, Good Brother, by the Wake County National Congress of Black Women at its annual Sojourner Truth Legacy Celebration on September 10, 2011. He was also named “Citizen of the Year” by the Iota Iota Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and received the 2010 “Social Action Award” from the Eta Sigma Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Sutton is a very proud member of fatherhood to two beautiful girls, Alexia and Makayla, ages 13 and 8, respectively. A William C. Friday Fellow, he is a 1992 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a Bachelor of Arts in Industrial Relations. Sutton has also taken Executive Leadership courses at the Whitney M. Young, Jr. School of Social Work; the School of Business at Clark Atlanta University; and, the Chevron Texaco Management Institute.[1] |
” |
| —Keith Sutton (2016)[2] | ||
Elections
2020
Wake County Public School System
See also: Wake County Public School System, North Carolina, elections (2020)
General election
General election for Wake County Public School System, District 4
Incumbent Keith Sutton won election in the general election for Wake County Public School System, District 4 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Keith Sutton (Nonpartisan) | 97.3 | 42,740 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 2.7 | 1,204 | ||
| Total votes: 43,944 | |||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction
See also: North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2020
General election
General election for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction
Catherine Truitt defeated Jen Mangrum in the general election for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Catherine Truitt (R) | 51.4 | 2,753,220 |
 | Jen Mangrum (D) | 48.6 | 2,605,169 | |
| Total votes: 5,358,389 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction
Jen Mangrum defeated Keith Sutton, Constance Johnson, James Barrett, and Michael Maher in the Democratic primary for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Jen Mangrum | 33.2 | 378,396 |
| Keith Sutton | 26.6 | 303,592 | |
 | Constance Johnson | 21.1 | 240,710 | |
 | James Barrett | 10.8 | 122,855 | |
 | Michael Maher | 8.3 | 95,239 | |
| Total votes: 1,140,792 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction
Catherine Truitt defeated D. Craig Horn in the Republican primary for North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction on March 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Catherine Truitt | 56.7 | 391,915 |
 | D. Craig Horn | 43.3 | 299,578 | |
| Total votes: 691,493 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
2018
General election
General election for Wake County Public School System, District 4
Incumbent Keith Sutton won election in the general election for Wake County Public School System, District 4 on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Keith Sutton (Nonpartisan) | 96.7 | 28,577 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 3.3 | 984 | ||
| Total votes: 29,561 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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2016
When state legislation created new school board district boundaries for the Wake County Public School System, a group of voters disputed the change in court.
- See also: Issues in the election
District 1 incumbent Tom Benton filed for re-election and faced challengers Donald Agee, Mary Beth Ainsworth, and Sheila Ellis. Agee defeated the incumbent. In District 2, incumbent Monika Johnson-Hostler filed for an additional term on the board and successfully defended her seat against challenger Peter Hochstaetter. Mark Ivey initially filed in the race but withdrew his candidacy in September 2016. Because of the late withdrawal, his name still appeared on the ballot. Sole newcomer Roxie Cash filed for the District 3 seat and won. District 4 incumbent Keith Sutton filed for re-election and faced single challenger Heather Elliott. Sutton won another term on the board. In their bids for re-election, District 5, 6, and 7 incumbents Jim Martin, Christine Kushner, and Zora Felton were unopposed and won additional terms on the board. However, Felton passed away unexpectedly shortly after the general election, leaving the District 7 seat vacant.
District 8 saw three newcomers file for the seat: Gary Lewis, Gil Pagan, and Lindsay Mahaffey, with Mahaffey winning the seat. In District 9, incumbent Bill Fletcher won the race against challenger Michael Tanbusch. There was no primary.[3][4]
After Judge Dever announced that the candidates who originally filed in this school board race were disqualified and would have to file again during a new filing window that ran from August 11, 2016, to August 17, 2016, three dropped out and two newcomers filed. Former candidates Beverley Clark, James McLuckie, and Donald Mial did not appear on the revised candidate list. District 7 incumbent Zora Felton and District 9 challenger Michael Tanbusch entered the race after the new deadline was set.[3]
Results
| Wake County Public School System, District 4 General Election, 2-year term, 2016 |
||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes |
 Keith Sutton Incumbent |
72.92% | 28,660 |
| Heather Elliott | 26.41% | 10,381 |
| Write-in votes | 0.66% | 261 |
| Total Votes (100) | 39,302 | |
| Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "11/08/2016 Official General Election Results," accessed December 5, 2016 | ||
Funding
Sutton did not report any contributions or expenditures to the Wake County Board of Elections as of November 4, 2016.[5]
School board candidates in North Carolina were required to file campaign finance reports to their county's board of elections unless the candidate:
(1) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in contributions, and
(2) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in loans, and
(3) Did not spend more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).[6]
The third quarter campaign finance deadline was October 31, 2016, and the fourth quarter deadline was January 11, 2017.[7]
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Keith Sutton did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
See also
2020 Elections
External links
|
Candidate North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Keith Sutton, "Meet Keith," accessed October 20, 2016
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wake County Board of Elections, "Wake Board of Elections Candidate Detail List," August 17, 2016
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "11/08/2016 Unofficial General Election Results," accessed November 8, 2016
- ↑ Wake County, "Campaign Finance Reports," accessed November 4, 2016
- ↑ General Assembly of North Carolina, "Chapter 163: Elections And Election Laws, Article 22A - Regulating Contributions and Expenditures in Political Campaigns," accessed February 11, 2016
- ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Reporting Schedules," accessed October 11, 2016
