North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2016

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North Carolina Gubernatorial Election

Primary Date: March 15, 2016

General Election Date: November 8, 2016

November Election Winner: Roy Cooper (D)

Incumbent Prior to Election: Pat McCrory (R)

State Executive Elections Top Ballot Governor • Lt. Governor Secretary of State • Attorney General Down Ballot Auditor • Insurance Commissioner Agriculture Commissioner Superintendent of Schools • Treasurer Labor Commissioner

North Carolina held an election for governor on November 8, 2016. Incumbent Pat McCrory (R) conceded the election on December 5, 2016, after a recount of votes in Durham County verified that Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) would remain ahead.

HIGHLIGHTS

Incumbent Pat McCrory was North Carolina’s first Republican governor in almost 20 years. He was the first North Carolina governor to lose in a bid for re-election.

McCrory competed with Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) in the November election. Polling suggested a competitive race.

Cooper's win of the gubernatorial race broke the Republican trifecta control in North Carolina.

Overview

North Carolina had been under Republican trifecta control after Governor Pat McCrory (R) assumed office in 2013 and became the state's first Republican governor in 20 years. This represented a shift in partisan control for the state, which had been under Democratic trifecta control in 2010. McCrory sought a second term in office.

Four-term Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) won the Democratic primary election and competed with McCrory in the general election. Libertarian candidate Lon Vernon Cecil ran for the governor’s seat as well.

Polls had Cooper and McCrory neck-and-neck, with Cooper usually leading McCrory by a few points. As of the end of the second quarter, Cooper had raised nearly $2 million more in campaign contributions than McCrory. Satellite spending groups spent millions of dollars in support of both candidates. Though the race still had an overall rating of Toss-up, it grew more competitive over time, with two of the five political ratings that Ballotpedia tracks changing their rating to Lean Democratic.

Cooper led McCrory by less than five thousand votes on election night and declared a victory. McCrory, however, did not concede and stated that the results would not be final until the official county canvasses on November 18. Thomas Stark, the general counsel for the state Republican Party, filed a formal complaint with the Durham County Board of Elections on November 11 requesting that the 90,000 ballots from that county be recounted. Stark argued in the complaint that the ballots should be recounted as they were entered manually by local officials "[with] bleary eyes and tired hands" on election night due to a mechanical error with the tabulation machines. The request was denied by the Durham County Board of Elections on November 18, 2016. That decision would be later overturned by the State Board of Elections, with a recount of 90,000 votes in Durham County moving forward. McCrory conceded the election on December 5, 2016, after a recount of votes in Durham County verified that Cooper would remain ahead.

Before his concession, McCrory's campaign had also filed complaints with the State Board of Elections alleging voter fraud in 50 of the state's 100 counties. Gerry Cohen, a former advisor to the General Assembly, speculated that McCrory and Cooper could have resulted in a protracted legal battle that ended with the General Assembly deciding the winner.

Candidates and results

Candidates

Roy Cooper (D)
North Carolina Attorney General since 2000

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Pat McCrory (R)
Governor of North Carolina since 2012

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Lon Cecil (Lib.)
Retired engineer

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Click [show] to view candidates who were defeated in the primary elections.
Ken Spaulding (D) - North Carolina state representative Charles Moss (R) - 2012 gubernatorial candidate C. Robert Brawley (R) - former North Carolina state representative

Results

General election

Roy Cooper defeated incumbent Pat McCrory and Lon Cecil in the North Carolina governor election.

North Carolina Governor, 2016
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Roy Cooper	49.02%	2,309,190
	Republican	Pat McCrory Incumbent	48.80%	2,298,927
	Libertarian	Lon Cecil	2.19%	102,986
Total Votes				4,711,103
Source: North Carolina Secretary of State

Primary election results

North Carolina Governor Democratic Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Roy Cooper	68.7%	710,658
Ken Spaulding	31.3%	323,774
Total Votes		1,034,432
Election results via North Carolina State Board of Elections.

North Carolina Governor Republican Primary, 2016
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Pat McCrory Incumbent	81.7%	876,885
C. Robert Brawley	10.6%	113,638
Charles Kenneth Moss	7.7%	82,132
Total Votes		1,072,655
Election results via North Carolina State Board of Elections.

About the primary

A primary election is an election in which voters select the candidate they believe should represent a political party in a general election. Primaries usually take place several months before a general election. North Carolina utilizes a hybrid primary system. Parties decide who may vote in their respective primaries. Voters may choose a primary ballot without impacting their unaffiliated status.

In North Carolina, when more than two candidates run in a primary election and one candidate does not receive more than 40 percent of the vote, the second-place candidate can request a runoff primary, sometimes referred to as a second primary. However, because of the redrawing of congressional and state legislative district boundaries, state executive elections in 2016 did not feature a runoff primary. This means the 2016 primary elections for state executives were unique and particularly competitive in that the winning candidate automatically received the party nomination regardless of the percentage of votes received.

North Carolina's primary elections took place on March 15, 2016.

Party control

North Carolina Party Control: 1992-2024
Fourteen years of Democratic trifectas  •  Four years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24
Governor	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

See also: Party control of North Carolina state government

North Carolina had been under Republican trifecta control since Governor Pat McCrory (R) assumed office in 2013. This represented a fairly rapid shift in partisan control for the state, which had been under Democratic trifecta control as recently as 2010. North Carolina's electoral votes went to the Republican presidential candidate in every election cycle since 1980, with the exception of 2008 when the state voted to elect Barack Obama (D). North Carolina began attracting significant attention as a presidential battleground state with Obama's unexpected 2008 win in the state—the first Democratic candidate to do so since Jimmy Carter (D) in 1976. For the past two presidential elections, the state's presidential preference influenced statewide elections. This influence, coupled with the recent trend of close elections in the state, promised competitive races in 2016.

Both Republican and Democratic candidates gained success in recent elections. Democrat Bev Perdue won the gubernatorial election and Democrat Kay Hagan defeated incumbent Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole in 2008. The state swung back to Republicans in 2012 when Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney narrowly beat President Obama by a margin of 2 percentage points. McCrory defeated his Democratic rival by a small margin of victory that same year. The trend of close statewide elections in North Carolina continued into 2014: Republican Thom Tillis narrowly defeated incumbent Senator Kay Hagan (D) in a statewide race that year, earning 48.8 percent of the vote to Hagan's 47.3 percent.

The office of governor in North Carolina had been held by Democrats for 20 years prior to Pat McCrory's election in 2012. He won the seat over Democrat Walter Dalton by a margin of over 10 percent. Democrats had won the prior three elections by margins ranging from 3 percent to 13 percent.

Debates

General election debate: October 18, 2016

General election debate, October 18, 2016

Republican Pat McCrory, Democrat Roy Cooper, and Libertarian Lon Cecil debated on October 18, 2016, at Raleigh's WRAL. McCrory and Cooper clashed on several issues, including the controversial House Bill 2, which nullified a local anti-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte, the state's Rainy Day Fund, and taxes. Cooper accused McCrory of shifting the tax burden to the middle class, while McCrory stated that his economic plan had created jobs and lowered unemployment.

On the topic of HB2, McCrory said, "Do y'all even know what the penalty was in Charlotte for someone that did not accept gender identity as the new requirement in identifying if you're a boy or girl? It was a fine of $500.00 and or a 30 day jail sentence." Cooper replied, "If a local government wants to protect people from being fired because they're gay, HB 2 says you can't do that."

Cooper also implied that McCrory was under investigation by the FBI regarding a campaign contribution, which the governor denied. "As attorney general, you should resign right now for saying that," replied McCrory to the allegations. "Gov. McCrory has been stonewalling not only the media but people who ask for public records," said Cooper.

General election debate: October 11, 2016

General election debate, October 11, 2016

Republican Pat McCrory and Democrat Roy Cooper faced off on October 11, 2016, at UNC-TV in a debate characterized by The Charlotte Observer as "feisty." The two candidates discussed HB2, the state law that nullified a local anti-LGBT discrimination ordinance in Charlotte. Cooper promised to repeal the law, while McCrory defended its necessity.

McCrory was asked about his support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. "Mr. Trump needs to have his mouth washed out with soap, but so does Mrs. Clinton," said McCrory, saying that he supported some of Trump's other issue positions. "Gov. McCrory and Donald Trump are a lot alike. They both have trouble with the facts and they both engage in divisive rhetoric," said Cooper. Cooper also criticized the governor's education record while McCrory maligned Cooper's leadership of the state crime lab.

General election debate: June 24, 2016

Gubernatorial candidates Governor Pat McCrory (R) and Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) debated on June 24, 2016, at the Westin hotel in Charlotte in front of the North Carolina Bar Association. McCrory and Cooper touched on topics such as public education and the state's controversial transgender bathroom access law, HB2. Cooper called the bill divisive and an infringement on privacy rights, while McCrory maintained that the law protects students. McCrory pointed to his successes while in office in raising teacher pay, $4.4 billion in tax cuts, and a low unemployment rate. Cooper stated his plan to end vouchers for private schools and alleged that McCrory's tax cuts benefited only large corporations.

Click here to watch clips and the full video of the debate.

Primary election debates

On November 30, 2015, the League of Women Voters and Time-Warner Cable issued a joint news release announcing four dates on which they would host debates during the 2016 primary and general elections for governor and U.S. senator. Rick Willis, Time-Warner's news director, said invitations went out to all of the then-current candidates for the two offices. The invitations specified times, dates, and locations. Paul Schumaker, a strategist for the campaign of Senator Richard Burr (R), said the campaign would only agree to debates where all interested parties met, negotiated, and reached a memorandum of understanding on the format and process of the debates.

Time-Warner and the League of Women Voters also announced that they would partner on a series of nonpartisan education specials, vignettes, and public service announcements throughout 2016.

In February 2016, sponsors announced that the upcoming Democratic primary debate, scheduled for February 29, would be canceled due to lack of participation from the candidates. State representative Ken Spaulding (D) had agreed to appear; Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) declined, stating he had “already shared the stage with Spaulding four times." The event would have been the first televised debate between the two candidates.

Race tracking

Race rating:

Race Ratings: North Carolina Governor
Race Tracker	Race Ratings
The Cook Political Report	Toss-up	Toss-up
Governing	Toss-up	Toss-up
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Republican	Lean Democrat
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Toss-up	Lean Democrat
Daily Kos Race Ratings	Toss-up	Toss-up
Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every two weeks throughout the election season.

Polls

General election

Roy Cooper (D) vs. Pat McCrory (R)
Poll	Roy Cooper	Pat McCrory	Margin of error	Sample size
Monmouth (October 20-23, 2016)	47%	48%	+/-4.9	402
New York Times/Siena (October 20-23, 2016)	51%	45%	+/-3.5	792
Public Policy Polling (October 21-22, 2016)	46%	44%	+/-3.3	875
Civitas (October 14-17, 2016)	44%	46%	+/-3.7	723
SurveyUSA (October 14-16, 2016)	47%	45%	+/-3.9	651
AVERAGES	47%	45.6%	+/-3.86	688.6
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Primary election

If the election for North Carolina Governor were today, and you were filling out your ballot right now, who would you vote for?
Poll	Pat McCrory (R)	Roy Cooper (D)	Lon Cecil (L)	Undecided	Margin of error	Sample size
Public Policy Polling March 18, 2016-March 20, 2016	42%	40%	6%	12%	+/-3.4	843
SurveyUSA Election Poll #22836 April 8, 2016-April 11, 2016	43%	47%	2%	8%	+/-3.8	701
AVERAGES	42.5%	43.5%	4%	10%	+/-3.6	772
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Do you approve or disapprove of Governor Pat McCrory's job performance?
Poll	Disapprove	Approve	Not sure	Margin of Error	Sample Size
Public Policy Polling March 18, 2016-March 20, 2016	40%	49%	12%	+/-3.4	843
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted on this issue. Those displayed are a sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Do you have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Roy Cooper?
Poll	Favorable	Unfavorable	Not sure	Margin of Error	Sample Size
Public Policy Polling March 18, 2016-March 20, 2016	33%	28%	39%	+/-3.4	843
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted on this issue. Those displayed are a sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Do you approve or disapprove of the job the General Assembly is doing?
Poll	Approve	Disapprove	Not sure	Margin of Error	Sample Size
Public Policy Polling March 18, 2016-March 20, 2016	18%	52%	30%	+/-3.4	843
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted on this issue. Those displayed are a sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

McCrory vs. Cooper
Poll	Roy Cooper	Pat McCrory	Neither/Someone else (volunteered)	Don't Know	Margin of error	Sample size
Elon University Poll April 10, 2016-April 15, 2016	48.2%	41.5%	5.6%	4.7%	+/-3.93	621
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way Pat McCrory is handling his job as governor?
Poll	Approve	Disapprove	Don't know	Margin of error	Sample size
Elon University Poll April 10, 2016-April 15, 2016	37.1%	49.2%	13.8%	+/-3.93	621
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Do you [approve or disapprove] of the way Roy Cooper is handling his job North Carolina Attorney General?
Poll	Approve	Disapprove	Don't know	Refused	Margin of error	Sample size
Elon University Poll April 10, 2016-April 15, 2016	42.9%	26.6%	30%	0.5%	+/-3.93	621
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted in this race. Those displayed are a random sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

North Carolina - Should transgender people be allowed to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with? Or not?
Poll	Should be allowed	Should not	Not sure	Margin of Error	Sample Size
SurveyUSA with TWC North Carolina April 1, 2016-April 3, 2016	40%	51%	9%	+/-4.3%	540
Note: The polls above may not reflect all polls that have been conducted on this issue. Those displayed are a sampling chosen by Ballotpedia staff. If you would like to nominate another poll for inclusion in the table, send an email to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Campaign finance

The following chart details the total contributions and expenditures to the campaign committees of Pat McCrory (R) and Roy Cooper (D) through the first two quarterly reports.

Click [show] to view campaign finance information for Roy Cooper and Pat McCrory through the second quarter of 2016
Roy Cooper campaign finance details, 2016 Pat McCrory campaign finance details, 2016

Satellite spending

Main article: Political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns

Groups unaffiliated with candidates or campaigns—such as political action committees, super PACs, nonprofit public welfare organizations, and labor unions—often spend money to influence the outcome of an election. This satellite spending can take the form of express advocacy, which encourages votes for or against a candidate, or issue advocacy, which supports broad political or social issues. Some groups are restricted on which kind of advocacy they can engage in based on their tax status.

Disclosure regulations vary from state to state and vary based on type of organization, complicating the process of determining a comprehensive picture of all spending in a given election.

For example, nonprofits are not always required to disclose their donors to the government; they submit financial information to the federal government through regular tax filings with the Internal Revenue Service, which are only publicly available through a Freedom of Information Act request. Other organizations are required to report election expenditures to a state elections division.

Known satellite spending in the 2016 election

Known satellite spending; North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2016
Organization	Amount spent	Type of spending
Republican Governors Association	$1,000,000	Ads against Roy Cooper (D)
American Bridge 21st Century	$	Social media campaign against Pat McCrory (R)
North Carolina Environmental Partnership	$1,600,000	Ads against Pat McCrory (R)
Democratic Governors Association funding North Carolina Families First	$558,000	Television ads
North Carolina Waste Awareness and Reduction Network	$160,000	Television ads
Institute for Faith and Family	$9,000	Television ads
North Carolina Association of Educators	$328,000	Television ads
Renew North Carolina Foundation	$125,000	Television ads
Americans for Prosperity	$150,000	Television ads
Southern Environmental Law Center	$62,000	Television ads
Real Jobs NC	$61,000	Television ads
National Resource Defense Council	$54,000	Television ads
A Better N.C.	$460,000	Ads against Pat McCrory
Conservation Votes PAC	$386,000	Canvassing in support of Roy Cooper
Planned Parenthood Action PAC N.C.	$135,000	Canvassing
Total known expenditures:	$5,088,000
Note: All figures are estimates. Know of any other instances of satellite spending? Tell us!

Campaign media

Note: If a candidate is not listed below, Ballotpedia staff were unable to locate any campaign media for that candidate. Do you know of any? Tell us!

Democrats

Roy Cooper (D)
Ken Spaulding (D)

Republicans

Pat McCrory (R)

Campaign advertisements

Click here to view television advertisements for this campaign.

Recent news

The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms North Carolina state governor election. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.

North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2016 - Google News

Past elections

2012

See also: North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2012

Governor of North Carolina General Election, 2012
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Walter Dalton	43.2%	1,931,580
	Republican	Pat McCrory	54.6%	2,440,707
	Libertarian	Barbara Howe	2.1%	94,652
	Write-in	Various	0%	1,356
Total Votes				4,468,295
Election results via NC State Board of Elections

To view the full electoral history for Governor of North Carolina, click [show] to expand the full section.

2008 On November 4, 2008, Bev Perdue won election to the office of Governor of North Carolina. She defeated Pat McCrory and Michael Munger in the general election. Governor of North Carolina, 2008 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Bev Perdue 50.3% 2,146,189      Republican Pat McCrory 46.9% 2,001,168      Libertarian Michael C. Munger 2.8% 121,584 Total Votes 4,268,941 Election results via North Carolina State Board of Elections. 2004 On November 2, 2004, Mike Easley won re-election to the office of Governor of North Carolina. He defeated Patrick Ballantine and Barbara Howe in the general election. Governor of North Carolina, 2004 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Mike Easley Incumbent 55.6% 1,939,154      Republican Patrick J. Ballantine 42.9% 1,495,021      Libertarian Barbara Howe 1.5% 52,513 Total Votes 3,486,688 Election results via North Carolina State Board of Elections. 2000 On November 7, 2000, Mike Easley won election to the office of Governor of North Carolina. He defeated Richard Vinroot, Barbara Howe, and Douglas Schell in the general election. Governor of North Carolina, 2000 Party Candidate Vote % Votes      Democratic Mike Easley 52% 1,530,324      Republican Richard Vinroot 46.3% 1,360,960      Libertarian Barbara Howe 1.5% 42,674      Reform Douglas Schell 0.3% 8,104 Total Votes 2,942,062 Election results via North Carolina State Board of Elections.

Race background

Key election dates

Filing deadline (partisan): December 21, 2015

Primary date: March 15, 2016

Filing deadline (independents): June 9, 2016

Filing deadline (write-ins): July 26, 2016

General election date: November 8, 2016

Inauguration: January 7, 2017

Candidate field

Attorney General Roy Cooper (D), who had won four statewide attorney general elections, ran for governor in 2016. Cooper focused on the policies that inspired "Moral Mondays" and raising them as major campaign issues. In the 2008 election for state attorney general, Cooper won with over 61 percent of the vote, and he ran unopposed in 2012. In the 2016 election for governor, he defeated primary challenger and former state Representative Ken Spaulding (D).

Spaulding, who entered the race two years before Cooper, owns his own law practice and served as a state representative for six years. Voting rights, public education, job creation, and the expansion of Medicaid were his campaign issues. Cooper won the Democratic nomination in the March 15, 2016, primary election.

On the Republican side, incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory (R) faced two primary challengers: former state Rep. C. Robert Brawley and Charles Moss, who ran for the Republican nomination in 2012. Brawley, a longtime politician, announced his candidacy in December 2015, stating that North Carolina was in need of a new governor with new ideas.

Charles Moss is a former evangelical radio preacher who ran in the 2012 gubernatorial primary election. Moss and Brawley were defeated by Gov. McCrory (R) in the primary election.

Libertarian Lon Cecil, who was a potential candidate in the 2012 U.S. House election, also ran for the governor's seat in 2016. He competed with McCrory and Cooper in the general election.

General election campaigns

McCrory pledged to continue increasing job growth, lowering corporate taxes, maintaining a flat-rate income tax, increasing teacher pay, improving customer service in government agencies, improving state infrastructure, and opposing federal environmental regulations. His Democratic opponent Roy Cooper called for increased funding for education, greater emphasis on job creation, expanding Medicaid, promoting investments in renewable energy, and repealing North Carolina's voter ID law.

Libertarian Lon Vernon Cecil said that the focus of his campaign was the creation of clean and modern jobs in the state; he hoped to win at least 2 percent of the votes in the election in order to keep automatic ballot access for the Libertarian Party.

North Carolina voter identification law

On July 29, 2016, a three-judge panel in the United States Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit struck down a North Carolina voter identification law that critics alleged disenfranchised black voters. "The new provisions target African Americans with almost surgical precision," wrote Justice Diana Gribbon Motz in the opinion.

"Three Democratic judges are undermining the integrity of our elections while also maligning our state," responded Governor Pat McCrory (R) in defense of the law, which was enacted by the Republican-led state legislature.

The state was represented in the case by Attorney General Roy Cooper (D), who was also McCrory's opponent in the November 2016 governor's race. Following the decision of the federal circuit court, Cooper announced that the state would not seek an appeal and asserted his support for the court's decision. "Other parties are adequately represented if they choose to appeal further," said his spokeswoman. McCrory called Cooper's refusal to appeal the case a political decision.

About the office

Governor

Main article: Governor of North Carolina

The governor of the State of North Carolina is an elected constitutional officer, the head of the executive branch, and the occupant of the highest state office in North Carolina. The governor is popularly elected every four years by a plurality and is limited to two consecutive terms. The 74th governor was Republican Pat McCrory. McCrory defeated Walter Dalton (D) in the 2012 general election. He assumed office on January 5, 2013.

Prior to the November 2016 general elections, North Carolina was one of 23 Republican state government trifectas.

See also: North Carolina State Legislature, North Carolina House of Representatives, North Carolina State Senate

Incumbent

Pat McCrory (R) was first elected governor of North Carolina in 2012, defeating Democrat Walter Dalton by a margin of over 10 percent to become the first Republican governor in 20 years. His election won Republicans trifecta control of the state government. Prior to his tenure in state government, McCrory served as the mayor of Charlotte from 1995 until 2009, and on the Charlotte City Council from 1989 to 1995.

State profile

Demographic data for North Carolina
	North Carolina	U.S.
Total population:	10,035,186	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	48,618	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	69.5%	73.6%
Black/African American:	21.5%	12.6%
Asian:	2.5%	5.1%
Native American:	1.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	2.4%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	8.8%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	85.8%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	28.4%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$46,868	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	20.5%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in North Carolina. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

Presidential voting pattern

See also: Presidential voting trends in North Carolina

North Carolina voted Republican in five out of the six presidential elections between 2000 and 2020.

Pivot Counties (2016)

Ballotpedia identified 206 counties that voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012. Collectively, Trump won these Pivot Counties by more than 580,000 votes. Of these 206 counties, six are located in North Carolina, accounting for 2.91 percent of the total pivot counties.

Pivot Counties (2020)

In 2020, Ballotpedia re-examined the 206 Pivot Counties to view their voting patterns following that year's presidential election. Ballotpedia defined those won by Trump won as Retained Pivot Counties and those won by Joe Biden (D) as Boomerang Pivot Counties. Nationwide, there were 181 Retained Pivot Counties and 25 Boomerang Pivot Counties. North Carolina had six Retained Pivot Counties, 3.31 percent of all Retained Pivot Counties.

More North Carolina coverage on Ballotpedia

• Elections in North Carolina
• United States congressional delegations from North Carolina
• Public policy in North Carolina
• Influencers in North Carolina
• North Carolina fact checks
• More...

See also

North Carolina government:

• North Carolina state executive offices
• North Carolina State Legislature
• North Carolina courts

Previous elections:

• State executive official elections, 2015
• State executive official elections, 2014

Ballotpedia exclusives:

• State executives compensation
• Who runs the states?

External links

Suggest a link

• Office of the North Carolina Governor
• North Carolina State Board of Elections