{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\n\nDavid Lee Brake Jr. is the Democratic candidate for Sheriff of Nash County, North Carolina, on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot, facing Republican nominee Julian \"Keith\" Stone, per the North Carolina State Board of Elections' 2026 candidate filing list [1]. Brake's campaign site describes him as \"deeply rooted in Nash County, committed to community policing, transparent leadership, and investing in people through partnerships with local leaders, and through community collaborations,\" and says residents \"deserve a sheriff who listens, protects with accountability, and works to reduce crime by investing in people\" [2].\n\n## Career\n\nThe 2026 race is a rematch of the 2022 general election, in which Brake, also the Democratic nominee, faced the same Republican opponent, Keith Stone, after winning a Democratic primary against Joseph Grimes on May 17, 2022 [3].\n\n## Sources\n[1] North Carolina State Board of Elections, 2026 Candidate Filing List (`Candidate_Listing_2026.csv`), published at [dl.ncsbe.gov](https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Elections/2026/Candidate%20Filing/Candidate_Listing_2026.csv) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-21\n\n[2] [David Brake for Nash County Sheriff \u2014 campaign website](https://davidbrakeforsheriff.com/) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-21\n\n[3] [David Brake (Nash County Sheriff, North Carolina, candidate 2022) - Ballotpedia](https://ballotpedia.org/David_Brake_(Nash_County_Sheriff,_North_Carolina,_candidate_2022)) \u2014 Ballotpedia does not maintain this page and provides no vote totals for the race; used here only for the 2022 primary- and general-opponent names, which were not found in another public source \u2014 accessed 2026-07-21\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"nash","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Nash County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"David","fullname":"David Lee Brake JR","lastname":"Brake","middlename":"Lee","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Nash County Sheriff","county":"nash","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-11-03","office_county":"nash","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"nash","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Nash County Sheriff","county":"nash","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-11-03","office_county":"nash","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"DEM","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"suffix":"JR","summary":"David Brake is a Democratic candidate who ran for Nash County Sheriff in 2022, with limited public biographical details.","terms":[],"token":"12f5174a717dd9ca"}