Democratic NC Gov. Cooper wins reelection over Lt. Gov. Forest
Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper has been reelected to a second term, the Associated Press reports, defeating Republican challenger Lt. Gov. Dan Forest.
With more than 99% of precincts reporting, Cooper led with 51% of the vote compared to Forest’s 47% of the vote. Cooper had 2.8 million votes to Forest’s 2.5 million votes, according to unofficial results from the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
In his acceptance speech Tuesday night, Cooper talked about how North Carolinians are resilient, inclusive, creative and “do not give up easily.”
He said in the coming weeks, North Carolinians “have to work harder than ever to understand each other’s perspective. He urged people to respect each other even if they held different political beliefs, saying everyone needs to come together.
Cooper said they should “focus on what we have in common rather than our differences.” He touched briefly on policy issues, mentioning health care, thriving public schools, clean air and water, and the “reckoning of systems that have excluded too many people.”
Libertarian candidate Steven J. DiFiore had 1% of votes, and Constitution Party candidate Al Pisano had less than 1%.
NC campaign for governor
The coronavirus pandemic changed this election year. The first case in North Carolina was recorded on the day of the March primary. Both Cooper and Forest easily won their nominations, and spent the rest of the year campaigning on very different perspectives on response to the pandemic.
As governor, Cooper led North Carolina’s response and the restrictions. He issued the statewide stay-at-home order in the spring, which has been lifted in phases and is now in the final phase. Some restrictions are still in place, especially around capacity at restaurants and bars, and gathering size. He also put a statewide mask mandate in place, which remains. Forest, on the other hand, said he would lift the mask mandate and reopen all businesses.
Beyond COVID-19 response, also at play was whether or not North Carolinians vote to reelect Republican President Donald Trump or replace him with Democrat Joe Biden. Voters went for both Trump and Cooper in 2016. Cooper led in multiple polls this election season.
Cooper took the stage shortly before 11 p.m. at the Democratic Party headquarters, appearing with his wife and three daughters.
“North Carolinians made their voices heard tonight,” Cooper said.
He said it was important for all the votes to be counted.
“I know there are a lot of important races that are still too close to call. We must let the process work, to be sure that all the legal votes are counted,” he said.
The N.C. Democratic Party event was held with limited attendance in the area outside the NCDP headquarters on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. Blue lights shone on the building.
Candidates took the podium throughout the night as results came in and races were called, but the event lacked the party atmosphere of most election years due to COVID-19 guidelines.
It’s difficult to separate the governor’s race from the ongoing pandemic, North Carolina Democratic Party communications director Austin Cook said earlier in the evening, noting that education, job security and healthcare are now all seen through a distinct coronavirus prism.
“That’s the one thing that’s impacting everyone’s daily lives most directly,” Cook said. “And not just in terms of what we’re able to get outside and do. ... Parents are nervous about whether their kids are going to be able to get the schooling they need. It’s job security. And it’s healthcare, everyone wants to be able to make sure they can see a doctor if they get sick.”
The North Carolina Republican Party hosted its watch party in Raleigh on Tuesday night in an office building near Cameron Village.
Forest’s campaign held a separate event in Johnston County. At the event in Selma, media outlets were not allowed inside until Forest took the stage around 11 p.m. In his concession speech, he said his campaign “left it all out on the field.”
“When you get to the end like this and the results don’t turn out the way you planned on them turning out, the room is empty. You guys are just awesome,” Forest said to a packed crowd indoors.
“I think we all, together, fought a very long, hard battle, and I’m really proud of you guys,” he said.
“I did make several attempts to call the governor and concede the election to him. I did not get through to him, but I do wish him all the best,” Forest said.
Forest said his campaign was outraised by Cooper’s campaign. He said Cooper’s position as an incumbent, hosting news conferences consistently during the COVID-19 pandemic made it more challenging to defeat him.
“It’s time to get beyond political differences, ideological differences and even sometimes philosophical differences that separate us and join together as the good people of North Carolina,” Forest said.
There was lot of enthusiasm on the ground across North Carolina for Dan Forest that’s hard to capture, NCGOP spokesperson Tim Wigginton told The N&O at the NCGOP event in Raleigh earlier in the evening.
He expected more support for Forest and higher turnout in rural areas, particularly because of Cooper’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
At the GOP event, guests needed to sign a waiver before they went inside that said if they get COVID-19, they won’t hold anyone there liable or responsible. They were also handing out face masks at the entrance, but most of the guests weren’t wearing them inside the event. About 100 people were gathered in the room eating, drinking and taking photos together and standing around high-top tables while watching the live election results.
Voting in North Carolina
North Carolinians had three options to vote: voting early at one-stop locations, mailing in their ballots or waiting until Election Day to vote in their precinct. Masks were worn, hand sanitizer was available and one-time-use pens were given out.
In-person early voting began in North Carolina on Oct. 15 and ended Oct. 31. In a two-week period, more than 3.6 million people cast ballots. That’s on top of the nearly 940,000 voters who sent in absentee ballots. Nearly 62% of registered voters cast ballots early. Women turned out in higher numbers for the early votes with 64% casting ballots compared to 59% of registered men. Residents under 40 years of age made up 28% of the early votes.
North Carolina faced several challenges to its election laws as voting was underway. Lawsuits filed in federal and state courts challenged where voters could drop off their absentee ballots, whether a witness signature was needed on mailed-in ballots and how long the boards of elections could continue collecting mailed-in ballots after Election Day.
In the end only one rule changed. Voters got an extension to get their mailed-in ballots to the boards of elections. Instead of a Nov. 6 deadline, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a settlement agreement that extended the deadline through Nov. 12. But those ballots must still be postmarked by Nov. 3 to count.
News & Observer reporter Danielle Battaglia contributed to this story.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Domecast politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it on Megaphone, Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020, 8:32 PM.
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