Over the years, a lot of Guilford County Commissioners have been people who began their political careers as members of the Guilford County Board of Education.
Well, school board member Pat Tilman is the latest of those who would like to make that jump, and he went a long way toward doing so by winning handily in the 2022 District 3 Guilford County Board of Commissioners Republican Primary.
Tillman ended up Tuesday night with 41 percent of the vote compared with 34 percent for Oak Ridge Town Councilmember George McClellan and 25 percent for Summerfield resident Dan Suter.
Tillman will go on to face Derek Mobley, the Democratic contender for the seat, in November. Mobley with no Democratic Primay opponent got a pass into the November election.
Both McClellan and Tillman, by virtue of their current positions, have good name recognition in the area, however, Tillman was hoping that his extensive work with parents across the district over the years would help put him over the top. Tillman ran a campaign in which he constantly pointed to his school board decisions during an extremely difficult two-year-plus pandemic period for the Board of Education.
McClellan argued that Oak Ridge is a very well run and that he had helped play a big role in that governance over the years. McClellan also told the Rhino Times just days before the election that he was really getting out into the community and knocking on door after door after door.
During his campaign, McClellan was critical of the way the school system spends money and he even called for the state to audit Guilford County Schools. He also opposed the $1.7 billion school bond referendum that was approved by voters Tuesday.
