Former President Donald Trump won North Carolina decisively, along with the presidency. Four years ago, Trump won North Carolina by only 74,000 votes. But Tuesday he won by 192,000 votes.
Some counties in the mountains shifted to the left slightly, perhaps because voters there did not appreciate Trump’s criticism of the federal government’s response to Helene. But, otherwise, almost every county in North Carolina moved to the right. Trump squeezed more votes out of rural counties, and he reduced the Democrats' margins in urban areas like Wake, Guilford, New Hanover and Mecklenburg counties.
In Mecklenburg, even though Kamala Harris won overwhelmingly, there was still a slight shift to the right. It was across the county, in places like mostly rural Mint Hill, in affluent south Charlotte and in Black precincts. Democrats spent millions of dollars trying to bring Mecklenburg's turnout up to the state average, which was 73% Tuesday night. It didn't work. Just a little more than 69% of Mecklenburg voters went to the polls.
Democrats win five Council of State races
Democrat Josh Stein won the governor's race over scandal-plagued Republican Mark Robinson. That wasn’t a surprise, but then Democrats had a series of victories that should take a bit of the sting out of losing the presidential race so thoroughly.
Democrat Jeff Jackson won the attorney general's race over Republican Dan Bishop. He got 158,000 more votes than the vice president. Outside of Stein, he was the best-performing Democrat of the night.
Rachel Hunt won the lieutenant governor's race. Elaine Marshall won again as secretary of state, a job she's held since 1997, and Mo Green defeated Republican Michele Morrow for the superintendent of public instruction race. Democrats came into the night holding four of the 10 Council of State seats. Now they will have five.
Democrats break the Republican supermajority in the statehouse
Despite a redrawn map that heavily favored Republicans, Democrats won a series of statehouse races that have kept Republicans one seat short of a supermajority. That gives the governor the veto back as a tool. One of those seats that flipped was in north Mecklenburg, where Democrat Beth Helfrich defeated former Huntersville Mayor Melinda Bales in an open seat that had been held by a Republican.
There are a couple of extremely close statehouse races in Mecklenburg County. Republican Tricia Cotham has a 275-vote lead, or half of a percentage point, over Democrat Nicole Sidman. This was a race that Democrats obsessed over after Cotham switched from the Democratic to the Republican Party last year.
Democratic state senate candidate Woodson Bradley holds a mere 27 vote lead over Republican Stacie McGinn. That result could change based on who wins outstanding mail ballots and provisional ballots.
Republicans win judicial races
Outside of the presidency, Republicans' biggest wins are in judicial races. The biggest is a seat on the state Supreme Court, where Republican Jefferson Griffin holds a 10,000 vote advantage over Democrat Allison Riggs. Should he hold on, the GOP would have a 6-1 advantage on the state’s highest court.
Republicans also won three statewide seats on the Court of Appeals. That comes two years after they won all six statewide judicial races and four years after they won all eight. This shows that the GOP has a built-in advantage here in North Carolina in races that voters just don't know a lot about.
