The Orange County community is continuing to mourn the loss of sitting county commissioner Jamezetta Bedford this week, after her unexpected death on Sunday. As her elected colleagues and Democratic Party peers continue to sort through their emotions, they also have decisions to make on who will fill her vacant District 1 seat on the board.
Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners Jean Hamilton said Jamezetta Bedford’s passing is “a huge loss,” as the two-term commissioner and former long-time Board of Education member died at 67 from complications following a surgical procedure. Hamilton – who is a District 1 representative as well – said the cruel irony is that Bedford would be the person she’d call to talk with and ask how to navigate the situation of losing a sitting commissioner.
“[Bedford] was more than a colleague,” Hamilton told 97.9 The Hill on Wednesday. “She was a mentor and a friend. I worked with her on the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City school board when I was elected, first in 2005. It is hard, and it’s hard to mourn someone you really cared about.
“And also,” added Hamilton, “the work of the county has to continue.”
While the summer often features a lighter meeting schedule – and in the days after Bedford’s death, the board canceled a planned retreat for June 27 – North Carolina law requires any vacant seat with an unexpired term to be filled within 60 days. Despite there only being a handful of board meetings between now and when the term ends in December, the elected body must make an appointment to fill it or else the clerk of court gets to choose.
Appointments to the Orange County Board of Commissioners are not particularly rare, with two in the last five years – Anna Richards in 2021 and Phyllis Portie-Ascott in 2023. For those vacancies, the board opened up an application for residents of the respective districts and commissioners voted on who to appoint to their ranks from the applicant pool. On Wednesday, Hamilton said the current board has not yet decided on what tact to take.
“Probably at our July 9 meeting,” she said, “[we will be] deciding on a process to fill that vacancy, and whoever’s put in that position will be filling it until the first Monday in December when we have our organizational meeting.”
Orange County Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford speaks at 97.9 The Hill’s Forum On The Hill at the Whitted Building in October 2019. (Photo by Dakota Moyer/Chapel Hill Media Group.)
What makes Bedford’s vacancy different, however, is that it comes months after the primary cycle. The Democrat was primed to win a third term on the board after defeating Maria Palmer in March with 57% of the vote and seeing no challengers on the general ballot for November. While the Orange County Commissioners can make a short-term appointment, it’s up to the Orange County Democratic Party to choose who will very likely get a four-year term.
Hillsborough town commissioner Matt Hughes is one of North Carolina’s delegates to the Democratic National Committee.
“Because Commissioner Bedford was the winner of that, she became the Democratic Party’s nominee,” he said. “There’s now a vacant seat in that nomination – and this is where the county party has a lot more heft in terms of making a selection. Because that determination of who to replace Commissioner Bedford with for the November election never goes before the Board of County Commissioners.”
Hughes, who used to chair the county-level of the Democratic Party, said while this type of vacancy is fairly rare in Orange County, it happens many times each election cycle across the state. That included earlier this year, when North Carolina Sen. Graig Meyer stepped down from office and Jonah Garson was selected by the Democratic Party of the three counties that make up District 20. Since Bedford’s seat represents Chapel Hill and Carrboro voters, all District 1 members of the party’s executive committee will have a say in who gets chosen for the upcoming four-year term.
The process around Meyer’s replacement caught attention and criticism earlier this year since there were only a handful of Democratic Executive Committee members who made the decision to appoint Garson, thanks to the weight of Orange County’s representation. While this process will not put a vote out to all registered residents on whom to succeed Bedford, Hughes said it will involve many more people. From all District 1 precinct chairs, vice chairs, state executive committee members, county party officers and more, dozens of local party leaders will have a vote on who will hold the seat long-term.
“At the end of the day, what people have to remember is that political parties are organizations and those organizations have certain rights,” Hughes said. “And one of those things is the right to nominate candidates to be on the ballot. The state statutes are what govern this and says, ‘At these various levels, here’s who makes a vacancy [decision] when the unfortunate happens.’”
Palmer, who ran against Bedford in March’s Democratic primary, described her campaign as an avenue for more marginalized voices to be heard and represented, while acknowledging she and Bedford were friendly. Palmer told Chapelboro she has felt grateful in recent days that Bedford won the primary and could feel affirmed in her victory with community support before her untimely death.
Palmer said this week, she’s heard from friends and neighbors asking if she is in line for the vacant District 1 seat since she was on the primary ballot. While she’s told them that is not how it will work, the former Chapel Hill town councilor has assured people she is still interested in the office – both for the short-term appointment and selection for the full term.
Photo via Maria Palmer for Orange County.
Palmer said she spoke with many people during the campaign who said they would support her in another cycle for county commissioner, just not in an election against Bedford. Those comments and her own passion led her to already be looking ahead.
“I, absolutely, would love to serve,” Palmer said. “I’ve kept my campaign committee open and had planned on making my case to the voters.
“The case to the Democratic Party,” she added, “[is]: I have worked hard from being a precinct chair, to one of the first people in the Latino caucus statewide, resolution committees… I worked on voter registration with my students at [North Carolina] A&T when I was the director of the multicultural center. We registered over 1,000 people and took people to the polls. It was so exciting.”
While the decision to fill Bedford’s seat will be difficult emotionally, all three of Hamilton, Hughes and Palmer said they want to continue Bedford’s work and honor her commitment to the county government and constituents. For Palmer, that means stepping up back into elected office.
“I need to be advocating,” she said. “And it’s easier to advocate from within. So, hopefully I’ll be considered.”
Featured photo via Elena Pace.
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