RALEIGH — UNC Board of Trustees Member Dave Boliek has ousted Democrat Jessica Holmes in the race for state auditor.
While results are still unofficial, Boliek edged out Holmes by more than 95,000 votes; a margin of about 1.75%
During the primary, 56-year-old Boliek defeated Jay Clark with more than 53% of the vote. Holmes had no March primary challenger.
In an interview with North State Journal earlier this year, Boliek, an attorney by trade and former prosecutor, said he had crisscrossed the state during primary season and racked up at least 6,000 miles on his car hitting every meeting and event he could.
Boliek got his undergraduate degree at UNC Chapel Hill. He later obtained his law degree from Campbell University and at the same time earned a master’s in business administration at the school.
Holmes, an attorney and former member of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, was appointed to the auditor role by Gov. Roy Cooper in late November 2023. The appointment was made after then-State Auditor Beth Wood announced she was resigning following an indictment related to her December 2022 hit-and-run while driving a state vehicle that occurred in downtown Raleigh after a Christmas party.
On Sept. 12, Boliek announced he had garnered endorsements from “every living elected state auditor,” which included Wood and Republican Les Merritt.
“Our politics are more partisan and divisive than at any point in my lifetime, so I was extremely proud to earn the support of both Republican and Democratic former state auditors,” Boliek said in the announcement “The auditor’s job is to protect taxpayers, hold agencies accountable and maintain good government. I’m not a professional politician, and when I walk into that office in January, I’ll leave my politics at the door.”
Boliek said in an interview with North State Journal that financial and compliance components of audits are the “bread and butter” of the auditor’s office, and he would be taking a look at state government agencies and asking, “How can we serve the taxpayer and the citizens of North Carolina better?”
