Edwin Earnhardt Booth

Editorial note — same-name confusion. Web searches for "Edwin Booth" will surface Edwin Booth (1833-1893), the famous 19th-century American stage actor and brother of John Wilkes Booth. That person is not the candidate profiled here. Edwin Earnhardt Booth, who goes by "Ed Booth," is a sitting Beaufort County, North Carolina commissioner running for re-election in 2026 ¹².

Current office and 2026 campaign

Edwin "Ed" Earnhardt Booth is the Democratic incumbent on the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners, with a term expiring in 2026 ¹. He is on the ballot for re-election in the November 2026 general election, facing Republican John Edwards ². In March 2026, Booth was among five commissioners who voted 5-2 to support a $38.6 million NCDOT road-safety project on 15th Street in Washington -- a corridor where state data shows 417 crashes over the prior five years. Responding to the City of Washington's opposition to the project, Booth said the board's responsibility extends to all residents of the county: "This is one of the most dangerous streets in the state, documentation will tell you that... I respect the position that they have taken but we represent the whole county and the City of Washington happens to be in Beaufort County and it's our people, our citizens that are riding that street everyday." ³

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