{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\n\nJames Ernest \"Buddy\" Harwood is the Democratic candidate for reelection as Madison County Sheriff in the November 3, 2026 general election, having filed his candidacy on December 1, 2025 [1]. He has served as Sheriff since winning the November 8, 2022 general election [2], and the Madison County Sheriff's Office currently lists him as the sitting Sheriff [4].\n\n## Background and education\n\nAccording to the North Carolina voter file, Harwood is a registered Democrat in Madison County since 1994 (32 years); NC's bulk voter export lists only year of birth, which is recorded as 1964 [5]. The voter history file shows 11 elections voted in since 2016, most recently the 2026-03-03 primary [5].\n\n## Office history\n\nHarwood won the 2022 Democratic primary for Madison County Sheriff on May 17, 2022, defeating Jim Cruzan 1,598 votes to 302 [3]. He then won the November 8, 2022 general election over Republican Robin Lyles by a countywide margin of 6,912 votes to 3,116 [2]. Lyles is again the Republican nominee challenging Harwood in the 2026 general election [1].\n\n## Sources\n[1] North Carolina State Board of Elections, 2026 Candidate Filing listing (`Candidate_Listing_2026.csv`) \u2014 https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/Elections/2026/Candidate%20Filing/Candidate_Listing_2026.csv \u2014 accessed 2026-07-20\n[2] North Carolina State Board of Elections, 2022 general election precinct-level results (`results_pct_20221108.txt`) \u2014 https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/ENRS/2022_11_08/results_pct_20221108.zip \u2014 accessed 2026-07-20\n[3] North Carolina State Board of Elections, 2022 primary election precinct-level results (`results_pct_20220517.txt`) \u2014 https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/ENRS/2022_05_17/results_pct_20220517.zip \u2014 accessed 2026-07-20\n[4] Madison County Sheriff's Office \u2014 https://www.madisoncountync.gov/sheriffs-office \u2014 accessed 2026-07-20\n[5] North Carolina State Board of Elections voter registration and history file (`vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup` / `ncvhis_Statewide` at `dl.ncsbe.gov`) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-20","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"madison","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Nov 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Madison County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"James","fullname":"James Ernest Harwood","lastname":"Harwood","middlename":"Ernest","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Madison County Sheriff","county":"madison","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-11-03","office_county":"madison","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"madison","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Madison County Sheriff","county":"madison","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-11-03","office_county":"madison","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 Madison County since 1994.","terms":[],"token":"5e9abc572a88a85f"}