GOP Selects Burlington Businessman Sam Powell to Fill Commissioner Vacancy

The Alamance County Republican executive committee met in a closed conclave Saturday and selected Burlington businessman Sam Powell to fill the commissioner seat left vacant by the February death of John P. Paisley Jr., who passed away with nearly three years remaining on his four-year term.

Powell, 73, will serve in an interim capacity until this fall's general election, when county voters will choose someone to complete the final two years of Paisley's term. The executive committee also named Powell as its standard-bearer for that special, two-year position, which will be contested by a Democratic Party nominee on the fall ballot.

The selection carries a certain symmetry: Paisley himself had been recruiting Powell as a potential successor in the months before his death. A photo from last December captured the two men together, taken while Paisley was contemplating a possible resignation from office due to his declining health.

Powell is no stranger to Alamance County's governing institutions. He served on the county board of commissioners from 1998 until 2002 and spent 12 years on Burlington's city council. Since leaving those posts, he has served as a trustee for Alamance Community College and as a member of the North Carolina state board of community colleges.

Beyond his civic resume, Powell is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution and is known locally for appearing in colonial attire at public events, including a 2022 Burlington city council meeting where he was photographed alongside then-mayor Jim Butler.

The fall election will mark Powell's return to partisan competition at the county level. Whether the Republican executive committee's selection constitutes a binding appointment or requires confirmation by another body was not immediately clear from the party's announcement, and that procedural question is among the details that remain to be resolved before Powell formally takes his seat.