General Assembly Approves Second Round of Hurricane Helene Relief
October 25, 2024
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Across the country on Tuesday, November 5, Americans cast their ballots in one of the most closely contested elections in recent history.
In the Old North State, voters came out in droves beginning with the early voting period, and by early Wednesday morning, it had become clear that the turnout record of 2020 would be bested in 2024.
At the top of the ticket, former President Donald Trump once again won North Carolina, his third time in as many election cycles, while once again, North Carolinians split their ballots and elected a Democratic Governor in current Attorney General Josh Stein.
Stein was the highest vote-getter on the ballot as of Wednesday, garnering over three million votes of the 5.6 million votes cast, although final totals will not be available until after the ten-day canvass period. Stein's 15-percentage point win over Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is the widest margin in a North Carolina Governor's race in recent history.
Ticket-splitting the North Carolina Council of State
The theme of ticket-splitting continued down the ballot, as Council of State races were divided between Republican and Democratic candidates:
- Lieutenant Governor candidate and current Democratic State Sen. Rachel Hunt defeated Republican Hal Weatherman in the contest to replace current Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, who ran unsuccessfully for Governor.
- Current Congressmen and former colleagues in the General Assembly, Dan Bishop and Jeff Jackson, faced off in the race for Attorney General, with Jackson winning the closely watched contest by over two and a half points.
- The Superintendent of Public Instruction race caught unusually high attention this election year, and in the end, former Guilford County Superintendent Maurice "Mo" Green was victorious over Republican candidate Michele Morrow. Morrow defeated current Superintendent Catherine Truitt in the primary in a surprising upset, owing that victory due largely to a strong grassroots strategy that could not be duplicated in the general election.
- Longtime Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler won another term, defeating Democratic challenger Sarah Taber by nearly eight points.
- Incumbent Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey also won another term, defeating current Democratic State Sen. Natasha Marcus by four and a half points.
- Republican Attorney Luke Farley defeated former Charlotte City Councilman Braxton Winston in the open race for Labor Commissioner, as current Commissioner Josh Dobson chose not to run for reelection. Notably, Dobson resigned Wednesday, setting the stage for Farley to take over the office.
- Longtime Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall bested Gaston County Commissioner Chad Brown to win another four-year term in the office she has held since 1997.
- Republican Brad Briner defeated Democratic State Rep. Wesley Harris by nearly five points in the open race for Treasurer. Current State Treasurer Dale Folwell ran unsuccessfully in the Republican Primary for Governor in 2024.
- Republican Attorney and UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees member Dave Boliek won the State Auditor's race against incumbent Jessica Holmes. Holmes, a former Chair of the Wake County Board of Commissioners, was appointed by Governor Cooper to the office earlier in 2024 following the resignation of longtime Auditor Beth Wood. Notably, Wood endorsed Boliek in the contest.
North Carolina's Council of State offices aren’t the only ones that voters chose new officials for – the Congressional Delegation North Carolina will send to Washington in January will also look much different.
New North Carolina Congressional Delegation
Following redistricting, many Democratic incumbents chose not to run for reelection; Rep. Jeff Jackson won the Attorney General's race, while Reps. Kathy Manning, Wiley Nickel and Patrick McHenry will not hold office after 2024.
Current incumbent Reps. Greg Murphy, Deborah Ross, Alma Adams, Virginia Foxx, David Rouzer, Richard Hudson, and Chuck Edwards all cruised to victory in their reelection bids.
They will be joined by current House Speaker Tim Moore, who easily won his first Congressional contest, as well as Republicans Pat Harrigan, Addison McDowell, Mark Harris, and Brad Knott, all of whom won newly redrawn districts that were not seen as particularly competitive.
In the only truly competitive Congressional district in North Carolina, incumbent Democratic Congressman Don Davis faced off against Laurie Buckhout, a retired Army officer, in the district that spans northeastern North Carolina. Rep. Davis declared victory Wednesday morning when his lead was around 5,800 votes of over 360,000 cast.
North Carolina Senate Races
Further down the ballot, the races for the General Assembly did not produce any major shifts in power like Americans saw in Washington, D.C. Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger declared victory for that chamber's supermajority late Tuesday night.
Some of the closest-watched, competitive races did not end up being as close as some political observers expected.
In New Hanover County, Republican Sen. Michael Lee won reelection over Democratic challenger David Hill by over eight points.
In newly drawn Senate District 11, which now covers Nash, Franklin, and Vance Counties surrounding the Triangle, Republican Sen. Lisa Barnes defeated challenger James Mercer by nearly three points.
That is not to imply that there were not some nail-biters; in the open suburban Wake County seat vacated by current Sen. Mary Wills Bode, which also includes rural Granville County, first-time candidate Republican Ashlee Adams holds a lead of only 38 votes against current Democratic House member Terence Everitt as of Wednesday.
In another suburban open Senate seat in Mecklenburg County, Democratic candidate Woodson Bradley holds a minuscule 27 vote lead against Republican Stacie McGinn.
We expect both of these races to be going to a recount as well.
Aside from those races, the State Senate will look and function very similar to recent years with at least thirty Republicans, enough to override any veto from Governor-elect Stein.
North Carolina House of Representatives
In the North Carolina House of Representatives, the supermajority picture is a little less clear. There were some surprises and close races, though, as first-term Republican Frank Sossamon was defeated by less than one thousand votes by Democratic challenger Bryan Cohn in a very competitive district that covers Vance and Granville Counties.
House District 73 in Cabarrus County also produced a surprising result, as current Democratic Rep. Diamond Staton-Williams was defeated by Republican Jonathan Almond in the newly drawn suburban district adjacent to Charlotte.
Moving east to the Wilson County district that is currently represented by Republican Rep. Ken Fontenot, Democratic challenger Dante Pittman appears to have defeated Rep. Fontenot by less than nine-hundred votes.
In the nearby Nash County District 25, Republican Rep. Allen Chesser defeated his Democratic challenger, Lorenza Wilkins, by a little more than one percentage point to win another two-year term in the State House.
Back towards the Triangle, Republican Attorney Mike Schietzelt defeated Democratic candidate Evonne Hopkins in a northern Wake County district vacated by current Democratic Rep. Terence Everitt.
Finally, out west in Buncombe County, Democratic Rep. Lindsey Prather faced a challenger from Republican Ruth Smith in a district that had been redrawn, making the contest much more competitive. In the end, Rep. Prather would pull out a victory over Smith by nearly 1,500 votes.
Some observers had questioned the impact that Hurricane Helene would have on turnout in the western part of the state, but that notion quickly disappeared as ballots began to be counted and reported on Tuesday evening.
In probably the closest-watched legislative race, former Democrat, now Republican Rep. Tricia Cotham faced off against Democratic challenger Nicole Sidman in an eastern Mecklenburg County contest. As of Wednesday, Rep. Cotham held a 275-vote lead over Sidman, with some outstanding ballots still to be counted during the canvass and the potential for a recount.
While some races still remain uncalled and recounts in multiple districts are a real possibility, we wanted to provide some analysis on where the General Assembly may be headed as the 2025 legislative long session approaches. Overall, we expect a lot more of the same.
With Republicans retaining majorities in both the House and Senate and Attorney General Stein emerging victorious in the race for Governor, the dynamics between the Legislative and Executive branches will be very similar to the past eight years under Governor Roy Cooper.
Like Cooper, Stein is a former lawmaker in the General Assembly, and that experience will be vital as Stein attempts to enact an agenda through a General Assembly that has not always seen eye-to-eye with the Executive Branch.
Sen. Phil Berger will once again lead a caucus with enough votes to override any gubernatorial vetoes, while in the House, current Rules Committee Chairman Destin Hall is expected by most political insiders to be elected Speaker of the House by his colleagues.
One interesting dynamic we will be watching is how the two chambers function together with new leadership; as longtime Speaker of the House Tim Moore moves on to Congress, leaving Hall to form his own unique working relationship with Sen. Berger.
As always, Ward and Smith's Government Relations team will continue to keep you updated on developments on Jones Street and beyond as we look towards 2025.
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