Dennis Rape

This page was current at the end of the official's last term in office covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Dennis Rape

Do you have a photo that could go here? Click here to submit it for this profile!

* * *

Prior offices

Union County Public Schools school board At-Large

* * *

Report an officeholder change

Education

High school

Parkwood High School

Bachelor's

Wingate College

Personal

Profession

Retired teacher and businessman

Contact

Personal website

## Contents

* 1 Elections
* 1.1 2016
* 1.1.1 Results
* 1.1.2 Funding
* 1.2 2014
* 1.3 2012
* 2 Campaign themes
* 2.1 2014
* 3 About the district
* 3.1 Demographics
* 4 Recent news
* 5 See also
* 6 External links
* 7 Footnotes

Dennis Rape was an at-large representative on the Union County Public Schools school board in North Carolina. Rape won the seat in the at-large general election on November 8, 2016. He left office in 2018 after he was elected as a commissioner of Union County.[1]

Rape was a candidate for an at-large seat on the Union County school board on November 4, 2014. He lost in the 2014 general election. Rape also ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the board in 2012.

## Elections[edit]

### 2016[edit]

See also: Union County Public Schools elections (2016)

Six of the nine seats on the Union County Public Schools school board were up for general election on November 8, 2016. Four of the seats were elected by district and two were elected at large. In District 1, two newcomers filed for the open seat: Rebekah Ratliff and Candice Sturdivant. Sturdivant won the spot on the board. Matt Helms filed for the vacant District 2 seat and ran unopposed, winning the seat. In District 5, two newcomers filed for the vacant spot on the board: Joseph Morreale and Amelie Schoel, with Morreale emerging victorious. District 6 saw Kathy Heintel file unopposed for the unexpired term and win the seat. Three filed for the two at-large seats: incumbent Christina Helms and newcomers Lee Henage and Dennis Rape. Rape and Helms were successful in winning terms on the board. There was no primary.[2][3]

#### Results[edit]

Union County Public Schools,
At-Large General Election, 4-year terms, 2016

Candidate | Vote % | Votes
Dennis Rape | 35.77% | 53,283
Christina Helms Incumbent | 33.31% | 49,612
Lee Henage | 30.03% | 44,726
Write-in votes | 0.89% | 1,331
Total Votes | 148,952
Source: North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Unofficial General Election Results-Union," accessed November 8, 2016 These election results are unofficial and will be updated after official vote totals are made available.

#### Funding[edit]

Rape reported $18,125.00 in contributions and $17,775.74 in expenditures to the Union County Board of Elections, leaving his campaign with $349.26 cash on hand as of November 4, 2016.[4]

See also: List of school board campaign finance deadlines in 2016

School board candidates in North Carolina were required to file campaign finance reports to their county's board of elections unless the candidate:

(1) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in contributions, and

(2) Did not receive more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) in loans, and

(3) Did not spend more than one thousand dollars ($1,000).[5]

The third quarter campaign finance deadline was October 31, 2016, and the fourth quarter deadline was January 11, 2017.[6]

### 2014[edit]

See also: Union County Public Schools elections (2014)

Five seats on the Union County Board of Education were up for general election on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Jim H. Benton, Sr. faced Sharon C. Harrell in District 1. In District 3, Gary Sides challenged incumbent Richard A. Yercheck. Newcomers Casey Carver, Monica Earp Frank and Melissa Merrell ran for the District 4 seat. Incumbent Marce Savage faced Jason Marton for re-election to the District 6 seat. Challenger Leslie Boyd won election to the at-large seat on the board by defeating Dennis Rape and Sean Maher.

### 2012[edit]

Union County Public Schools, District 3 Special Election, 2-year term, 2012

Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes
| Nonpartisan  | Richard Yercheck | 55% | 5,739
| Nonpartisan  |  Dennis Rape  | 44.7% | 4,662
| Nonpartisan  |  Write-in votes  | 0.4% | 40
Total Votes | 10,441
Source: North Carolina Board of Elections, "Election Results," accessed September 1, 2014

## Campaign themes[edit]

### 2014[edit]

Rape highlighted the following issues on his campaign website:

“  | My 14 Point Plan

1. Bring Civility back between The Union County BOE and the Commissioners for the benefit of the children of this County.
2. Accountability for the tax dollars we are entrusted with.
3. Allocation of funds based on a need first
4. Bridge the gap between the School Administration, the BOE, The Superintendent, and the Commissioners.
5. Bring a simple “Do the Right Thing” and “Common Sense Attitude” to all meetings, interactions, and negotiations.
6. Always remember that I am not here for myself, but the people I am serving.
7. Use the skills I’ve acquired in the Education and business sector to make The Union County BOE a model for other counties.
8. Use my knowledge of the inner workings of the school system to bring Change to a broken system.
9. People want a reasonable assurance that if they put down roots in a school attendance district that those roots will be allowed to grow and spread, not be uprooted and relocated to another school of the BOE’s choosing. If elected, I will do everything possible to reverse the redistricting decisions of 2014.
10. Equality in the county from the East at the Anson County Line to the West and Black Horse run.
11. With my teaching experience of 15+ years in the public school system I am uniquely qualified to represent the interests of the students and parents.
12. I would advocate for the return to parent advisory boards at each and every school with leaders drawn from the existing PTA’s. These Advisory Boards would be an avenue of communication directly to the BOE.
13. Advocate for all BOE meetings televised live and at a quality level that you can see and hear the meeting.
14. And lastly push to fire the Legal Litigator and start having the BOE make its own decisions.[7]

| ”

|
|

—Dennis Rape's campaign website (2014)[8]

## About the district[edit]

See also: Union County Public Schools, North Carolina

Union County Public Schools is located in Union County, North Carolina.

Union County Public Schools is located in Union County, North Carolina. The county seat of Union County is Monroe. Union County was home to 222,742 residents between 2010 and 2015, according to the United States Census Bureau.[9] The district was the sixth-largest school district in the state in the 2013–2014 school year and served 41,074 students.[10]

### Demographics[edit]

Union County outperformed in comparison to North Carolina as a whole in terms of higher education attainment from 2010 to 2014. The United States Census Bureau found that 32.3 percent of county residents aged 25 years and older had attained a bachelor's degree or higher, compared to 27.8 percent for state residents. The median household income in the county was $65,893, compared to $46,693 for the state. County residents lived below the poverty level at a rate of 10.8 percent, while that rate was 16.4 percent for state residents.[9]

|  Racial Demographics, 2015[9]

Race  | Union County (%)  | North Carolina (%)
White | 82.7 | 71.2
Black or African American | 12.3 | 22.1
American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6 | 1.6
Asian | 2.5 | 2.8
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander | 0.1 | 0.1
Two or More Races | 1.8 | 2.1
Hispanic or Latino | 11.0 | 9.1

| Union County Party Affiliation, 2014[11]

Party  | Registered Voters  | % of Total
Republican | 59,984 | 42.8
Democratic | 39,850 | 28.4
Libertarian | 507 | 0.4
Unaffiliated | 39,657 | 28.3

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

## Recent news[edit]

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Dennis Rape Union County Public Schools. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

Dennis Rape - Google News

## See also[edit]

* Union County Public Schools, North Carolina
* Union County Public Schools elections (2016)
* Union County Public Schools elections (2014)

## External links[edit]

| Suggest a link

|

* Union County Public Schools
* Dennis Rape 2014 campaign website

## Footnotes[edit]

1. ↑ Union County, North Carolina, "Dennis Rape," accessed February 10, 2019
2. ↑ Union County Government, "Candidate List Grouped by Contest," August 16, 2016
3. ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Unofficial General Election Results-Union," accessed November 8, 2016
4. ↑ Union County, "2016 Campaign Finance Reports," accessed November 4, 2016
5. ↑ General Assembly of North Carolina, "Chapter 163: Elections And Election Laws, Article 22A - Regulating Contributions and Expenditures in Political Campaigns," accessed February 11, 2016
6. ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "Reporting Schedules," accessed October 11, 2016
7. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
8. ↑ Dennis for UC BOE, "About," accessed January 5, 2015
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 United States Census Bureau, "Union County, North Carolina," accessed October 3, 2016
10. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "ELSI Table Generator," accessed November 16, 2015
11. ↑ North Carolina State Board of Elections, "NC Voter Statistics Results," accessed August 29, 2014

2016 Union County Public Schools Elections

Election date:| November 8, 2016
Candidates:| District 1: Rebekah Ratliff • Candice Sturdivant

District 2: Matt Helms
District 5: Joseph Morreale • Amelie Schoel
District 6: Kathy Heintel

At-Large: Incumbent, Christina Helms • Lee Henage • Dennis Rape

Important information:| What was at stake? • Additional elections on the ballot • Key deadlines

v • e

State of North Carolina
Raleigh (capital)

|

Elections |

What's on my ballot? | Elections in 2022 | How to vote | How to run for office | Ballot measures

Government |

Who represents me? | U.S. President | U.S. Congress | Federal courts | State executives | State legislature | State and local courts | Counties | Cities | School districts | Public policy