Alamance GOP committee to pick interim replacement after Commissioner Paisley’s death

The death of longtime Alamance County Commissioner John P. Paisley Jr. on Feb. 19, 2026, has left a vacant seat on the Board of Commissioners and set in motion a 30-day statutory deadline for the county Republican executive committee to recommend an interim replacement, county elections director Dawn Hurdle said.

Dawn Hurdle clarified the statutory timeline: “The statute says that the Republican Party will have 30 days following the occurrence of the vacancy,” Hurdle went on to elaborate, “to make a recommendation for who will fill the seat temporarily.” Alamance County is one of 42 North Carolina counties where the party of the departed official makes that recommendation.

If the local Republican executive committee submits a recommendation within the 30-day window, the Board of Commissioners is obligated to accept that nominee, Hurdle said. If the committee does not act, Hurdle and county procedure point to a fallback: “Once the 30-day period has run out, the board of commissioners is free to make the selection themselves from among the county’s other registered Republicans.”

Paisley himself was first tapped as a temporary replacement in a previous vacancy in 2014, when Tom Manning gave up his seat to become the county finance officer. That 2014 appointment led to a contested primary between Paisley and former commissioner Eddie Boswell, who had previously been elected as a Democrat before switching to the Republican Party, underscoring how an interim appointment can shape the election calendar when it occurs early in a cycle.

Local prospects were already being discussed before Paisley’s death. Burlington businessman Sam Powell, who served on the Alamance County Board of Commissioners and Burlington City Council more than two decades ago, attended one of the semimonthly commissioners meetings last fall in person at Paisley’s behest. An unidentified voice quoted in local reporting said, “He’s looking for people who are willing to consider it,” he elaborated. Another quoted remark said, “I had served on the board for four years from ‘98 to ‘02…and I think that there are several people that the Republican Party is looking at as potential replacements if John steps down.”

North Carolina’s 30-day party-window differs markedly from procedures in other states. In Larimer County, Colorado, for example, “A vacancy committee has 10 days from the date of the vacancy to appoint an interim person to the seat.” That Colorado process also includes a gubernatorial fallback: “If the committee fails to appoint someone within the designated time frame, the governor chooses the replacement, in this case, that would be Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper.” Larimer GOP chairman Bob Morain praised his late commissioner in a news release: “Lew Gaiter has long been recognized as a public voice of reason and compassion. Respecting the concerns of all, he easily reached across political aisles to make friends and seek for workable solutions,” and Morain added, “His greatest accomplishments are realized in the lives of his children who honor him for the character and integrity he and his wife, Jeannette, instilled in each of them.” Republican candidate Sean Dougherty in Larimer also reacted personally: “I made a promise to Lew that I would do everything in my power to make sure that I could go ahead and follow up on what he wanted to get done,” and he said, “I hate to think about this right now because I do want to be able to serve the residents of Larimer County,” adding that “it's going to be very hard to fill his shoes.”

Residents and local officials should watch the GOP executive committee calendar: counting from Paisley’s Feb. 19 death, the 30-day recommendation period would expire on March 21, 2026. If the committee meets and forwards a name before that date, the Board of Commissioners is expected to approve the nomination; if not, the board may choose from among registered Republicans in Alamance County. The sequence could influence whether an interim appointee faces a primary contest, as the 2014 Manning-Paisley-Boswell episode demonstrated. County elections staff and party leaders are the immediate contacts for confirmations about meetings, nominations and any formal filings as the March 21 deadline approaches.