Reaction to Jody Greene winning Columbus County Sheriff race

COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — One day after the election, voters are reacting to the results of the Columbus County Sheriff race.

Jody Greene has been elected as sheriff, less than a month after he resigned before a hearing to have him removed from office. Greene received a little more than 54% of the votes.

WWAY heard from many voters for and against Jody Greene winning the race for Columbus County Sheriff.

Jody Greene’s win comes just over two weeks after he voluntarily resigned as sheriff due to alleged racist remarks in 2019.

Greene announced later that night he was still running for sheriff.

This will be Jody Greene’s second term as Columbus County Sheriff, once results have been finalized. Some voters say they are disappointed with his win.

“We wanted to get him out of the seat, because he had a bad heart, in my opinion. I’m not caring about what party. I don’t care if he’s republican, democrat –I always look and see if they have a genuine heart for all people, not just for certain people,” said Tara Ganus, resident.

Also saying they wished more people had voted.

“That just shows we didn’t show up to vote. We registered to vote, but we didn’t got to the polls, and that’s what has me bothered. There’s no way in the world this should have kept going this far, and I think it’s a travesty and it’s sad that somebody that was asked to leave office for racial remarks, was actually voted back in by the people,” said Richard Sutton, resident.

Many of Greene’s supporters spoke off camera, saying they were glad he won, and the chairman of the Columbus County Republican Party says he was also pleased with the results.

“We’re glad we won. The people in Columbus County, last night, by numbers showed that they have faith in the sheriff and believed in him, and I hope as everybody else does, that everybody just moves on now. Let’s move on forward together, and let the sheriff continue the good job he was doing in law enforcement in Columbus County,” said Sammy Hinson, Columbus County Republican Party chairman.

Hinson also said he does not believe the allegations made against Greene.

“We know the sheriff and a lot of the accusations made against him were just completely wrong, and I think it was politically motivated and I think a lot of it was motivated from sources outside of Columbus County,” said Hinson.

The District Attorney’s Office issued a statement in October saying “should Greene win the November election, the District Attorney’s Office would have an ethical obligation to file, and will file, a new petition to remove Greene from that term of office based on the allegations…” and told WWAY today they have no additional comment at this time.