In a landslide victory, Maureen Krueger became the first elected district attorney in Moore County history Tuesday night.

Krueger has served as district attorney for the past two years since Gov. Mike Easley appointed her to the post after the General Assembly made Moore County its own prosecutorial district.

"I'm honored not only to be the first appointed, but also the first elected district attorney for Moore County," Krueger said from the Hampton Inn where Republicans gathered on election night.

Buoyed with bipartisan support, Krueger defeated unaffiliated candidate Tony Berk to win election to a four-year term.

According to unofficial returns, Krueger received 29,097 votes, or 78 percent. She won every precinct in Moore County except Taylortown. Berk received 8,308 votes.

Reached at his home in Aberdeen, Berk said he had no comment on the race. Asked if he wanted to say anything to his supporters, he said, "I'll thank them later."

Berk, who was a prosecutor for 20 years in New York, had to run as an unaffiliated because he hadn't filed with either party 90 days prior to the election. Saying that he thought the district attorney race should be nonpartisan anyway, he garnered over 2,300 signatures to have his name on the ballot.

Krueger held a 77 percent to 23 percent lead in the one-stop and absentee voting. Almost 50 percent of the registered voters in Moore County took advantage of early voting.

Krueger said that reaching out to early voters was a key part of her strategy. Her campaign had representatives at each of the three one-stop polling places each day of the early voting period.

In studying the numbers from the primary, Krueger said it appeared that one-stop voting could make a huge difference this year.

"We looked at the primary," she said, "and it looked like (one-stop voting) definitely could have an effect. You could sort of insulate yourself from an October surprise."

That's why she wanted a campaign representative at the one-stop polling sites every day.

"It's important," she said. "Every voter matters."

By the time voters went to the polls Tuesday, Krueger had already built a nearly insurmountable lead. She widened her margin by 1 percent Tuesday.

Former Gov. Jim Holshouser, Sheriff Lane Carter and longtime Republican activist George Little are among the notables who supported Krueger.

During her first year as district attorney, Krueger convicted 100 percent of her criminal cases. She has built a reputation as being tough on crime and moving cases through the system.

One big change was trying some lower-level felony cases in Moore County District Court to keep the Superior Court calendars from getting clogged. She said she has also urged the county commissioners to appoint a task force to deal with the county's small, but growing gang problem.

Krueger said she wanted to thank her supporters for their help during the campaign.

She added: "A lot of people worked very hard."

Contact Matthew Moriarty at 693-2479 or by e-mail at moriarty@thepilot.com.