{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nRichard Lavern Williams (Richie Williams on the ballot) was a Democratic candidate for Pitt County Sheriff in the March 3, 2026 primary. He placed second to incumbent Paula S. Dance, 2,405 votes to 11,649, and lost the primary [1]. He will not appear on the Pitt County Sheriff ballot in the November 3, 2026 general election.\n\nAccording to the North Carolina voter file, Richard Lavern Williams is a registered voter in Pitt County, North Carolina, registered since 2001 (25 years), with party affiliation listed as Democratic [2].\n\nThe voter file shows Richard Lavern Williams's year of birth as 1972; NC publishes only the year of birth in its bulk voter export, so day and month are not part of the public record [2].\n\nThe voter history file shows 13 elections voted in since 2016, most recently the 2026-03-03 election [3].\n\nNo additional published biographical information was located. Voters with personal knowledge of Richard Lavern Williams can reach ballotproject.org with corrections or additions.\n\n## Sources\n[1] [North Carolina State Board of Elections \u2014 2026 primary certified precinct results, Pitt County](https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/ENRS/2026_03_03/results_precinct_sort/PITT_PRECINCT_SORT.txt) \u2014 Pitt County Sheriff (DEM), accessed 2026-07-21; also confirmed via the [NC State Board of Elections 2026 Candidate Listing](https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Elections/2026/Candidate%20Filing/Candidate_Listing_2026.csv)\n\n[2] [North Carolina State Board of Elections \u2014 Voter Search](https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/)\n\n[3] North Carolina State Board of Elections voter history file (`ncvhis_Statewide`), published at [dl.ncsbe.gov](https://dl.ncsbe.gov/)","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"pitt","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Pitt County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Richard","fullname":"Richard Lavern Williams","lastname":"Williams","middlename":"Lavern","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Pitt County Sheriff","county":"pitt","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"pitt","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"pitt","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Pitt County Sheriff","county":"pitt","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"pitt","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":[]}],"summary":"Per the NC voter file: DEM voter in Pitt County since 2001.","terms":[],"token":"37e5b622dcf467b4"}