John Rustin | November 6, 2024 | SHARE: 
Tuesday night, the eyes of the nation were on North Carolina as polls closed for the 2024 General Election, and the Old North State didn’t disappoint. Not only did voters turnout at almost record levels—despite the widespread destruction wrought by Hurricane Helene—but North Carolina lived up to its billing as a highly competitive “battleground state.”
The following is a summary of the election based on unofficial General Election results from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
In an amazing display of resiliency following the devastation of Hurricane Helene, 73% of registered voters in North Carolina (5.67 million out of 7.76 million registered voters) cast ballots in the 2024 General Election. By far, this is the highest turnout rate in over four decades, except for the 2020 General Election, which saw voter turnout at just over 75%. It is also notable that 4.2 million voters voted early this election, meaning that only one-in-four voters chose to wait to cast their votes on Election Day.
Former President Donald Trump won North Carolina by more than three percentage points over Vice President Kamala Harris, capturing the state’s 16 electoral votes and positioning himself to serve a very rare non-sequential second term as President of the United States. While Trump won North Carolina by just under 75,000 votes against Joe Biden in 2020, he bested Kamala Harris this election by almost 200,000 votes.
Although North Carolina did not have a U.S. Senate contest on the ballot this year, it appears that Republicans have gained a majority in that chamber in our nation’s capital. As is customary every two years, all of North Carolina’s 14 seats in the U.S. House were up for election. Due to redistricting during the 2023 Legislative Session, the state’s congressional map was more favorable to Republicans, and the GOP was victorious in 10 of the 14 congressional districts. This represents a net gain of 3 GOP seats in the U.S. House from North Carolina (our current congressional delegation consists of 7 Democrats and 7 Republicans). It is unclear at this point which party will control the United States House, but the election results seem to be trending in the Republican’s favor.
Incumbent U.S. House members returning to Congress from North Carolina include Democratic Reps. Deborah Ross (US House District 2), Valerie Foushee (US House District 4), Alma Adams (US House District 12), and Don Davis, who appears to have narrowly won a hotly contested race against GOP challenger Laurie Buckhout in U.S. House District 1. Returning incumbent Republicans include Greg Murphy (US House District 3), Virginia Foxx (US House District 5), David Rouzer (US House District 7), Richard Hudson (US House District 9), and Chuck Edwards (US House District 11). North Carolina also has 5 new congressmen: Addison McDowell (US House District 6), Mark Harris (US House District 8), Pat Harrigan (US House District 10), Brad Knott (US House District 13), and current NC House Speaker Tim Moore (US House District 14).
In the race for Governor, current Democrat Attorney General Josh Stein handily defeated embattled current Republican Lt. Governor Mark Robinson by nearly 15 percentage points. All other Council of State races were decided by single digit margins. In addition to Governor, Democrats won races for Lt. Governor (Rachel Hunt), Attorney General (Jeff Jackson), Secretary of State (Elaine Marshall), and Superintendent of Public Instruction (Mo Greene). Republicans won races for State Auditor (Dave Boliek), Commissioner of Agriculture (Steve Troxler), Commissioner of Insurance (Mike Causey), Commissioner of Labor (Luke Farley), and State Treasurer (Brad Briner).
Republicans appear to have swept all four seats up for election on state appellate courts. By a razor-thin margin, Republican Jefferson Griffin is leading Democrat Allison Riggs in the race for a seat on the State Supreme Court. Republicans Tom Murry, Chris Freeman, and incumbent Valerie Zachary appear to have secured seats on the State Court of Appeals.
As North Carolina has experienced over the past several years, having a Democratic Governor and a Republican-led General Assembly can either lead to political gridlock (if the GOP holds only a simple majority in the state legislature) or the advancement of the majority party’s priorities notwithstanding the Governor’s veto (if the GOP holds veto-proof supermajorities in both the State House and State Senate and can override the veto at will). With the election of Democrat Josh Stein as Governor and Republican majorities in both the State Senate and State House, much of what we will see when the General Assembly convenes in 2025 comes down to the numbers.
Presently, it appears that Republicans just barely defended their supermajority in the State Senate. Based on the unofficial election results, the GOP held 30 of the 50 seats, or the three-fifths necessary to override a veto. Not a single incumbent State Senator lost their reelection bid. Two additional seats are possible Republican pick-ups, but these are currently too close to call: Republican Ashlee Adams leads Democrat Terrence Everitt by 38 votes (out of nearly 122,000 votes cast) in NC Senate District 18; while Democrat Woodson Bradley leads Republican Stacie McGinn in Senate District 42 by only 27 votes (out of over 123,000 votes cast). Recounts are expected to take place in both of these races.
Just as in 2022, it appears that Republicans have fallen one seat short of a veto-proof supermajority in the NC House, capturing 71 of 120 seats (72 votes are needed to override a gubernatorial veto if all members are present and voting). Overall, two incumbent GOP House members, Ken Fontenot in NC House District 24, and Frank Sossamon in NC House District 32 appear to have lost their elections, although Rep. Sossamon trails by only 182 votes (out of over 43,000 votes cast). Incumbent Democrat Diamond Staton-Williams also lost her re-election bid to Republican challenger Jonathan Almond in NC House District 73.
In early 2023, following the 2022 General Election, Rep. Tricia Cotham switched parties from Democrat to Republican to give the GOP a veto-proof supermajority in the NC House. While Rep. Cotham appears to have successfully defended her seat this election by a slim 275 vote margin, it is unclear whether House Republicans will be successful in finding any House Democrats to either switch parties or to vote with the Republican majority to override any vetoes issued by incoming Democratic Governor Josh Stein.
Please note that NC Family will be providing further analysis of the 2024 General Elections in the coming days. Thank you!
