Pardon Our Dust
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Election season is upon us. The filing period in North Carolina has closed and the races are set. This is sure to be an interesting cycle to follow. In the coming weeks we will be conducting more analysis of the General Assembly, Council of State and Congressional races.
ELECTION 2012: CANDIDATE FILING
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SENATE
Republican: 153 Republican: 72
Incumbents: 53 Incumbents: 36
Democrat: 124 Democrat: 55
Incumbents: 36 Incumbents: 13
Libertarian: 6 Libertarian: 2
Incumbents: 0 Incumbents: 0
HOUSE FILINGS: 283
INCUMBENTS FILED: 89
SENATE FILINGS: 129
INCUMBENTS FILED: 39
TOTAL: 412
INCUMBENTS: 128
As the dust settled at the end of the candidate filing period, it appears that 23 percent of the state legislature — 10 senators and 29 House members — were re-elected without a vote.
If 2010 was the year of the tea party movement in North Carolina, then 2012 looks like the year of moving up the state’s political ladder. Seventy-five people filed to run for the state’s 13 congressional seats, according to the State Board of Elections tally at the close of the candidate filing period last week.
In state and local politics, this is shaping up as the year of the surprise. We can always count on electoral races to dish up the unexpected, but by the time the filing period for the May 8 primary ended Wednesday, the exclamation points were dancing in droves.
For the first time in nearly 20 years, Republicans will not face a Basnight or an Owens in races for state office in northeastern North Carolina.
The candidate filing period ended Wednesday with a crowded ballot and the stage set for a much-anticipated election year in North Carolina.
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