North Carolina 2016 Election Results

Ballot Measures, March 15, 2016

North Carolina voters decided 1 statewide ballot measure on March 15, 2016.

Ballot measures

General Election, November 8, 2016

North Carolina held its general election on November 8, 2016, deciding 170 legislative seats and 10 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Voters unseated Gov. Pat McCrory (R) but left Republicans with veto-proof majorities in both chambers, ending the GOP trifecta and handing the incoming Democratic governor a legislature that could override him.
• Roy Cooper (D) won by about 10,000 votes, making McCrory the first sitting North Carolina governor to lose a re-election bid. McCrory's campaign sought a recount and filed complaints in about half the counties, but no evidence of widespread voter fraud surfaced, and he conceded on December 5. The Human Rights Campaign said his support for House Bill 2, which limited transgender people's bathroom access, cost him the race.
• Before Cooper took office, McCrory signed a bill merging the elections board into an evenly split panel, and lawmakers passed a bill subjecting Cooper's Cabinet picks to Senate confirmation.
• Republicans won six of the 10 Council of State seats, flipping three that Democrats held:
  • Mike Causey (R) narrowly defeated Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin (D).
  • Mark Johnson (R) beat Superintendent June Atkinson (D), who was seeking a fourth term and was shocked by the loss.
  • Dale R. Folwell (R) won the treasurer's office, open after Janet Cowell (D) did not seek re-election.
  Democrats kept the attorney general's office Cooper vacated, with Josh Stein (D) beating Buck Newton (R), and Auditor Beth Wood (D) held on by about 6,000 votes over Chuck Stuber (R) after a recount.
• In the legislature, 9 seats changed party, and each party picked up the same number of House seats:
  • Democrats unseated three Republicans: Joe John (D) beat Marilyn Avila (R) in House District 40 by fewer than 400 votes, Mary Belk (D) ousted Rob Bryan (R) in House District 88 by about 470, and Cynthia Ball (D) beat Gary Pendleton (R) in House District 49 by about 800. Chaz Beasley (D) also picked up the Mecklenburg seat Charles Jeter (R) resigned in July, in House District 92.
  • Republicans unseated two Democrats: Mike Clampitt (R) beat Joe Sam Queen (D) in House District 119 by 277 votes in their third straight matchup, and John Sauls (R) ousted Brad Salmon (D) in House District 51. Republicans also won two open seats: Brenden Jones (R) in House District 46, and Beverly Boswell (R) in House District 6, whose departing member, Rep. Paul Tine, had been elected as a Democrat before becoming unaffiliated.
  • In the Senate's only flip, Danny Britt (R) took the Robeson County seat of Jane W. Smith (D) in Senate District 13.
  Across all offices, 9 incumbents lost. Apart from the flips, 5 races, statewide and legislative, finished inside two points, and 71 legislative races had only one candidate on the ballot.

Legislature

• House (120 seats): 45 D, 74 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 46 D, 74 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (50 seats): 16 D, 34 R before the election, 15 D, 35 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races