By Trent Serwetz

This just in:

BJ Lawson has won the Republican Party’s nomination for NC’s fourth congressional district, earning  46 percent of the 23,000 votes cast (2010 North Carolina Primary Election Results, WRAL.com (link)).

Lawson, who also won the 2008 GOP nomination, won tonight’s primary election running on a platform of limited government and fiscal responsibility. The Lawson campaign especially highlighted the importance of constitutional government and opposed the Federal Reserve.

“I think the primary message of the campaign has been about getting our economic freedom back, the freedom to create our own jobs and our own businesses and get the economy going again at the grass roots,” Lawson said in a post-election phone interview.

As the Republican candidate for the fourth district, Lawson will represent all of the constituents of Durham and Orange counties, as well as many residents of Wake and Chatham Counties. He will represent the Republican party against incumbent David Price (D) this November.

In addition to permanent residents of the fourth district, Duke students who registered to vote locally participated in tonight’s primary election. Chelsea Goldstein, current DSG Vice President for Academic Affairs, proudly voted in today’s Republican primary. She laments that “it’s a shame that so many people didn’t vote in such an important primary,” a competitive election for both the Republican House and Democratic Senate races. “I think going at noon and having less than 20 people having already voted at the polling place where all the Duke students should be voting was sad,” Goldstein says.

Nonetheless, “More than 7,000 Wake County people voted early, compared to 700 in 2006, the most recent off-year election without a presidential or gubernatorial race” (Turnout steady, slow for Tuesday primaries, WRAL.com (link)). However, 2006 was the lowest voter turnout in recent history at 12 percent, while “the 2008 presidential primary recorded the highest turnout at 37 percent” (Vote 2010: Trickle Of Voters Decide Key Races, WSOCTV.com (link)).

The Gothic Guardian also extends its congratulations to first-time candidate and runner-up Frank Roche, who won 41% percent of the vote, as well as candidates David Burnett and George Hutchins (9% and 5%, respectively) (WRAL.com (link)).

Read The Gothic Guardian‘s profile on BJ Lawson here.