{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\n\nEric Lee Byrd, of the Moravian Falls community in Wilkes County, North Carolina, was one of six Republican candidates for Wilkes County Sheriff in the March 3, 2026 primary, running against incumbent Chris Shew, Sharon Call-Diaz, David Carson, Jamie Dowell, and David Gambill [1]. Shew won the primary with 1,136 votes; Byrd received 302 votes, finishing fifth of the six candidates, according to official North Carolina State Board of Elections results [2].\n\n## Sources\n[1] [9 file for commissioner, 6 for sheriff \u2013 Journal Patriot](https://www.journalpatriot.com/news/9-file-for-commissioner-6-for-sheriff/article_9f1e5455-b747-5539-a920-ec98611de642.html)\n[2] North Carolina State Board of Elections \u2014 official precinct-level results, Wilkes County Sheriff Republican primary, March 3, 2026, accessed 2026-07-23: https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/ENRS/2026_03_03/results_precinct_sort/WILKES_PRECINCT_SORT.txt","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","county":"wilkes","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Wilkes County Sheriff"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Eric","fullname":"Eric Lee Byrd","lastname":"Byrd","middlename":"Lee","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Wilkes County Sheriff","county":"wilkes","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"wilkes","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"wilkes","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_sheriff","contest_title":"Wilkes County Sheriff","county":"wilkes","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"wilkes","office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","party":"REP","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"REP","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_sheriff","office_title":"Sheriff","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"terms":[],"token":"638e0a6ae5c069fe"}