NCGA Week in Review: North Carolina Election Results

Election Results At-A-Glance

Here’s a quick look at the results of NC’s elections:

• Over 4.7 million voters cast ballots in NC, up from 4.5 million in the 2012 presidential election.
• Early voters accounted for almost half of the ballots cast in the state.
• The Republicans retained a supermajority in both the state House and Senate and gained several seats in the Council of State.
• Three statewide races remain close and may be headed for recounts.
• Republicans retained a majority of the US House of Representatives and Senate. North Carolina will send ten Republicans and three Democrats to represent the state in the US House and Republican Sen. Richard Burr back to the US Senate.
• NC’s electoral votes favored President-Elect Donald Trump, winning the 15 electoral votes from the swing state.

All election results can be accessed through the NC State Board of Elections here.

Council of State

In the Council of State, Republicans picked up State Treasurer, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Commissioner of Insurance while the races for governor, attorney general and state auditor remain too close to call.

Pending certification of votes by November 18, there may be recounts in these three races. Local boards of elections will certify vote counts from now until ten days after election, November 18, if at that time the trailing candidate is behind by 10,000 or less votes, or one-half of one percent, whichever is less, a recount is required by state law.

Governor

The race for the governor between Republican incumbent Governor Pat McCrory and Democrat and Attorney General Roy Cooper remained in a deadlock throughout the campaign and into the late hours last night. The race is still too close to call, but appears to favor Roy Cooper. As it stands, Roy Cooper leads McCrory with 48.97% of the vote – a lead of 4,979 votes.

Initially, McCrory seemed to have the lead, but after over 90,000 ballots in Durham County were counted late, the lead shifted to slimly favor Cooper.

Shortly after 1 am, Roy Cooper made a short victory speech while McCrory reminded voters that provisional ballots and uncounted votes could continue to influence the election.

A spokesman for the State Board of Elections, Patrick Gannon, said that all 100 counties will begin reviewing provisional ballots between now and November 18, the date that all counties must certify their vote counts. At that time, if the trailing candidate is within 10,000 votes or .5%, he may ask for a recount under state law.

Lieutenant Governor

Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest won his reelection bid against Democratic challenger Linda Coleman and Libertarian Jacki Cole, with 51.87% of the vote.

Attorney General

It currently appears that Democrat Josh Stein has narrowly defeated Republican Buck Newton with 50.23% of the vote in the race for the open seat of Attorney General. Stein is currently 21,000 votes ahead of Newton, who has not conceded, but his lead may change pending certification of outstanding ballots. 

State Auditor

Democratic incumbent Beth Wood is currently 3,100 votes ahead of Republican challenger Chuck Stuber. Much like in the governor’s race, if the trailing candidate is within 10,000 votes of winner, he or she may call for a recount.

State Treasurer

Republican Dale Folwell defeated Democrat Dan Blue III. Folwell won 52.74% of the vote. Democrat Janet Cowell announced that she would not seek reelection after serving two years, leaving this seat open.

Commissioner of Agriculture

Republican incumbent Steve Troxler defeated Democratic challenger Walter Smith with 55.61% of the vote.

Commissioner of Insurance

Democratic incumbent Wayne Goodwin was defeated by Republican challenger Mike Causey last night. Causey won with 50.43% of the vote.

Commissioner of Labor

Republican incumbent Cherie Berry defeated Democratic challenger Charles Meeker with 55.22% of the vote.

Secretary of State

Democratic incumbent Elaine Marshall kept her seat against Republican challenger Michael LaPaglia with 52.23% of the vote.

State Superintendent

Republican challenger Mark Johnson defeated Democratic incumbent June Atkinson. Johnson achieved 50.63% of the vote.

To review McGuireWoods Consulting’s spotlight on state House races, click here.

NC House of Representative Elections

The Republican Party has retained a supermajority in the NC House of Representatives. There were 62 contested elections and 58 uncontested elections. The GOP and the Democratic party flipped four seats each, effectively cancelling one another out. The partisan balance will continue to be 75-45.

The Democratic party made gains in urban areas, successfully flipping four seats in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas. In Mecklenburg County, Republican Rep. Rob Bryan lost his reelection campaign against Democrat Mary Belk and Democrat Chaz Beasley picked up an open seat against Republican Danae Caulfield. In Wake County, Republican Rep. Marilyn Avila trailed behind Democratic challenger Joe John and Republican Rep. Gary Pendleton lost to Democrat Cynthia Ball.

The Republican also party flipped four seats across the state. Republican Mike Clampitt defeated Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Sam Queen in District 19, which spans Haywood, Jackson and Swain counties. In the Outer Banks, Republican Beverly Boswell picked up the seat left open by unaffiliated Rep. Paul Tine in the 6^th District which covers Beaufort, Dare, Hyde and Washington Counties, her opponent, Democrat Warren Judge, passed away last weekend. Republican Brenden Jones was elected in District 46 to take the open seat which was previously held by Democrat Rep. Ken Waddell; the district encompasses Bladen, Columbus and Robeson Counties. Democratic incumbent Rep. Brad Salmon failed to hold off Republican challenger John Sauls in the 51^st District, which includes parts of Harnett and Lee Counties.

In the below chart, incumbents are marked with an asterisk next to their name and the winner of each race is highlighted in yellow.

District	Counties	Democrat	Republican	Libertarian/ Unaffiliated
1	Cambden, Chowan, Currituck, Pasquotank, Pequimans, Tyrell	Sam Davis	Bob Steinburg*
2	Granville, Person	Joe Parrish	Larry Yarborough *
3	Beaufort, Crave, Pamlico	Marva Fisher Baldwin	Michael Speciale *
6	Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Washington	Warren Judge	Beverly Boswell
7	Franklin, Nash	Bobbie Richardson *	William Duke Hancock II
9	Pitt	Brian Farkas	Greg Murphy *
10	Craven, Greene, Lenoir, Wayne	Evelyn Paul	John Bell *
11	Wake	Duane Hall *	Ray Martin	Brian Lewis (Libertarian)
13	Cateret, Jones	Rodney Alexander	Pat McElraft *
15	Onslow	Dan Whitten	Phil Shepard *
16	Onslow, Pender	Steve Under	Chris Millis *
17	Brunswick	Charles Warren	Frank Iler*
18	Brunswick, New Hanover	Susi Hamiton *	Jerry Benton
25	Franklin, Nash	James Gaillard	Jeffrey Collins *
26	Johnston	Rich Nixon	Donna McDowell White
28	Johnston	Patricia Oliver	Larry Strickland
30	Durham	Paul Luebke *	Elissa Fuchs
34	Wake	Grier Martin *	Bill Morris
35	Wake	Terence Everitt	Chris Malone *
36	Wake	Jen Ferrell	Nelson Dollar *	Brian Irving (Libertarian)
37	Wake	Randy Barrow	Linda Hunt-Williams
38	Wake	Yvonne Lewis Holley *	Olen Watson III
40	Wake	Joe John	Marilyn Avila *
41	Wake	Gale Adcock *	Chris Shoffner
44	Cumberland	William Richardson *	Jim Arp
46	Bladen, Columbus, Robeson	Tim Benton	Brenden Jones	Thomas Howell, Jr. (Libertarian)
49	Wake	Cynthia Ball	Gary Pendleton *	David Ulmer (Libertarian)
50	Durham, Orange	Graig Meyer *	Rod Chaney
51	Harnett, Lee	Brad Salmon *	John Sauls
53	Harnett