{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nGary Scott Edwards, of Bladenboro, ran as a Democratic candidate for Bladen County Sheriff in the March 3, 2026 primary but lost to Talmadge \"Chris\" Hunt, who won with 68.94% of the vote to Edwards's 31.06%. As the losing primary candidate, Edwards will not appear on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot [1].\n\n## Career\nEdwards previously worked as a deputy with the Bladen County Sheriff's Office and ran for Bladen County Sheriff in the 2018 Democratic primary against Hakeem Brown [2].\n\n## Sources\n- [1] [Two Bladen County School Board Members Are Out; Longtime Sheriff Wins Primary \u2013 Border Belt Independent](https://borderbelt.org/bladen-county-live-primary-election-results-2026/) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-19\n- [2] [Meet the four candidates for Bladen County sheriff \u2013 WECT](https://www.wect.com/story/38110563/meet-the-four-candidates-for-bladen-county-sheriff/) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-19","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"bladen","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Bladen County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Gary","fullname":"Gary Scott Edwards","lastname":"Edwards","middlename":"Scott","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Bladen County Sheriff","county":"bladen","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"bladen","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"bladen","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Bladen County Sheriff","county":"bladen","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"bladen","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":[]}],"terms":[],"token":"2bad896d50dcd412"}