As political junkies, when you're following election night results in presidential elections, the bare minimum hope you have is that even if your candidate doesn't win the race at least they win your state so you can say "We did our part."
When North Carolina was called Tuesday night for President-Elect Donald Trump, my prayer was that this wouldn't be another 2020 where the "consolation prize" for me (and other Trump supporters here) was Trump winning the Old North State but not the presidency.
As the night wore on, it became very clear that history wouldn't be repeating itself.
And not only did it not repeat itself nationally, but in North Carolina Trump - as of this writing - has an additional feather to add to his cap regarding his win here.
In 2016, Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in North Carolina by around 173,000 votes, and in 2020 he beat Joe Biden by nearly 75,000 votes. In both, Trump didn't quite make it to the 50 percent mark (going by official percentages from the state board of elections).
This time around, if current numbers hold, he's on track to hit 50 percent-plus, and currently has a 192,000 vote lead, his highest of the three elections:
If these numbers hold, Trump is on track to do what he didn't do in his previous two NC wins: Get 50 percent or over. Plus, the raw vote total difference is his largest margin of the three races (192,000). #ncpol pic.twitter.com/jukutXuvLu
— Sister Toldjah 💙 (@sistertoldjah) November 6, 2024
On down-ballot races, North Carolina did what she typically does and delivered some split-ticket results. Though there were some expected House seat flips to Republicans (three) due to redistricting, the First Congressional District "toss-up" race was called for the incumbent Democrat, Don Davis, who is actually a moderate-ish Democrat who fortunately votes sometimes with Republicans. His GOP opponent, Laurie Buckhout, is reportedly considering a recount.
The governor's race, lt. governor's race and the attorney general's race were won by Democrats. For the record, the only one of the three that was a "flip" was the lt. governor's race. Republicans, however, won the state auditor race, the state treasurer race, the commissioner of agriculture race, the commissioner of insurance race, and the commissioner of labor race.
In addition to those victories and the Trump victory, there was good news for NC Republicans in the sole Supreme Court race, where it looks like the state's court will be going 6-1 GOP assuming a possible recount doesn't change the current status of the race between Republican Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin and his Democrat opponent, NC Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs (Griffin is currently ahead by about 10,000 votes).
Court of Appeals races also went well for Republicans:
AP has called the final Court of Appeals race for Republican Tom Murry, who defeated the incumbent, Judge Carolyn Jennings Thompson.
— Kyle Ingram (@kyle_ingram11) November 6, 2024
This means the GOP swept all three COA races and picked up a Democratic seat in the process. #ncpol
Republicans appear to have retained their supermajority in the state senate but pending a recount in one race may have lost it by one seat in the state house, which means Gov.-Elect Josh Stein's vetoes will likely have more staying power.
All in all, another overall good night for Trump and state Republicans in North Carolina. Onward we fight.
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