Shana Webb Buchanan

Current office and 2026 campaign

Shana W. Buchanan is the Mitchell County Clerk of Superior Court and the Republican candidate for the office in the November 3, 2026 general election in North Carolina, which carries a four-year term ¹. She filed for the office on December 1, 2025 and won the March 3, 2026 Republican primary over David Wheeler of Spruce Pine, 3,618 votes to 642 ¹². She is the only candidate listed for the office on the November 3, 2026 ballot ¹. Her address of record on the filing is in Bakersville ¹.

Career

Buchanan told the Mitchell News-Journal in February 2026 that she has "served in the clerk's office for 27 years," having worked there since she was nineteen and served "in every area of the office," and that she "was appointed as the clerk on Oct. 1, 2024" ³. WKYK reported that Janet Cook, who joined the Mitchell County courthouse in 1992 and became Clerk of Court in 2006, retired after a September 27, 2024 recognition event that was overtaken by Hurricane Helene, and identified Buchanan as the new Mitchell County Clerk of Court ⁴.

Asked what the public misunderstands about the job, Buchanan described the office's judicial functions: "Clerks also preside as the judge over estate matters, guardianship matters, incompetency proceedings, adoptions and many other civil matters. It is surprising to many people that we are actually the judge over these matters just like any other judge in the state of North Carolina" ³. She said she has taken "classes throughout my years of service at the Administrative Office of the Courts and the School of Government," and that "this job requires experience" ³. On what the office demands, she said: "I feel like to be clerk you have to be polite, professional and respectful. I want citizens to know they matter when they come into the clerk's office" ³.

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