It’s a jump that’s been made plenty of times before in Guilford County – from the Guilford County Board of Education to the Guilford County Board of Commissioners.

And soon-to-be District 3 Commissioner Pat Tillman managed to navigate that move just fine as others before him have.  On Tuesday, Nov. 8, Tillman pulled in enough votes, 52 percent, to give the Republican Tillman a win over Democratic contender Derek Mobley.

Early next month, Tillman will fill the seat of Republican Guilford County Commissioner Justin Conrad, who decided not to run for election again to the District 3  seat which represents much of northwestern Guilford County.

Conrad managed to get a great deal of ocean fishing in while serving as a commissioner and he will no doubt have a lot more time to do so after early December when Tillman takes his place.

Unlike some county commissioner races, which were essentially over right after the first few precincts reported, this race was neck and neck much of the night until the votes in all 25 precincts were counted – giving Tillman a majority.

Tillman was first elected as the school board’s District 3 representative in 2016 and was reelected in 2020.  He has maintained throughout the campaign that his work on the school board has helped him become very familiar with the district and its concerns.

When he first announced his run for the Board of Commissioners, Tillman told the Rhino Times his familiarity with the district would help him be an effective county commissioner.

“I know the community. I know the parents – and I’ve been working to solve problems in the district,” he said.

Tillman has a lot of leadership experience and an impressive resume.  A senior director of Business Development for THS Creative, he serves on several local boards including his church’s Christian Education Committee.  He has also served in combat with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq and was a non-commissioned officer in the Marines at various times as platoon sergeant, platoon commander, instructor/trainer and long-range military planning liaison.

Tillman has said that he wouldn’t have run for the District 3 commissioners seat if Conrad had decided to run again. Tillman has often praised the work that Conrad has done for Guilford County and has said that he hopes to carry on that tradition of good governmental stewardship.

Conrad announced in December of 2021 that he wouldn’t seek reelection to the District 3 seat – though it did appear that he grappled long and hard with that decision and Conrad joked about perhaps changing his mind when the courts required a do-over for the candidate filing period, which opened back up again in early 2022 after initially opening in December of 2021.

 

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