{"biography":"## Current office and 2026 campaign\nEdward Larry Simonds ran as a Democratic candidate for Swain County Board of Commissioners Chairman in the March 3, 2026 primary. He lost to Jeramy Shuler, 643 votes to 305. Simonds will not appear on the November 3, 2026 general-election ballot [1].\n\n## Background\nAccording to the North Carolina voter file, Edward Larry Simonds is a registered voter, registered since 2002 (24 years), with party affiliation listed as Democratic [2]. The voter file shows a year of birth of 1984; NC publishes only the year of birth in its bulk voter export, so day and month are not part of the public record [2]. The voter history file shows 3 elections voted in since 2020, most recently the 2026-03-03 primary election [3].\n\n## Sources\n[1] North Carolina State Board of Elections, certified March 3, 2026 primary results by precinct (`results_pct_20260303.txt`), published at [dl.ncsbe.gov](https://s3.amazonaws.com/dl.ncsbe.gov/ENRS/2026_03_03/results_pct_20260303.zip) \u2014 accessed 2026-07-21\n[2] [North Carolina State Board of Elections \u2014 Voter Search](https://vt.ncsbe.gov/RegLkup/)\n[3] North Carolina State Board of Elections voter history file (`ncvhis_Statewide`), published at [dl.ncsbe.gov](https://dl.ncsbe.gov/)\n","campaigns":[{"contest":"county_commission_chairman","county":"swain","county_count":1,"electiondate":"Tue, 03 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT","pgr":"general","state":"NC","title":"Swain County Board Of Commissioners Chairman"}],"cf_filings":[],"firstname":"Edward","fullname":"Edward Larry Simonds","lastname":"Simonds","middlename":"Larry","office_history":[{"campaigns":[{"contest":"county_commission_chairman","contest_title":"Swain County Board Of Commissioners Chairman","county":"swain","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"swain","office_key":"county_commission","office_title":"County Commissioner","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"}],"county":"swain","cycles":[{"general":{"contest":"county_commission_chairman","contest_title":"Swain County Board Of Commissioners Chairman","county":"swain","county_count":1,"electiondate":"2026-03-03","office_county":"swain","office_key":"county_commission","office_title":"County Commissioner","party":"DEM","pgr":"general","state":"NC"},"party":"DEM","primary":null,"term":null,"year":2026}],"office_key":"county_commission","office_title":"County Commissioner","state":"NC","terms":[]}],"summary":"Per the NC voter file: DEM voter in Swain County since 2002.","terms":[],"token":"93c5023120d9e635"}