Challengers win for Nags Head, Southern Shores mayors

DARE COUNTY, N.C.

Bob Oakes and Hal Denny, challengers in Dare County's two mayoral races, have soundly beaten incumbents Renee Cahoon and Don Smith.

In Nags Head, Oakes, 47, defeated Cahoon by a wide margin. Denny, an 84-year-old former Southern Shores councilman and mayor, beat Smith in a landslide.

"Renee has done a wonderful job for the town for a lot of years, and I think people are ready for a change," Oakes said after the returns came in. "But I talked to a lot of folks, and a lot of them were enthusiastic."

Denny could not be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Oakes, the owner of Village Realty in Nags Head, said he believes the town needs to reconnect with its citizenry and work together to plan its future. He said he is opposed to construction of a convention center on sound-front property the town partially owns and favors redevelopment and historic preservation.

Denny said he ran again because he was unhappy with the direction the town was headed and was concerned about the state of Southern Shores' infrastructure. A member of the Town Council for six years, Denny had served two of those years as mayor.

Denny said he plans to address repair of the town's roads and restore the reputation of the town's government. He is a retired logistics manager who had contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA, among others.

Including his term as mayor, Smith has served six years on the Town Council. He owns an insurance and securities agency.

Cahoon, an owner of a family-run market and cottage court at Whalebone Junction, was mayor from 1991 to 2000 and 2005 to present. In between, she served one term on the Dare County Board of Commissioners.