North Carolina

NORTH CAROLINA

15 Electoral Votes

Population
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, North Carolina State Board of Elections)

Total Population, July 1, 2008 est.	9,222,414
Total Registration, Nov. 4, 2008	6,233,330

Dem. 2,849,979 (45.72%) Rep. 1,994,494 (32.00%) Lib. 3,370 Unaffil. 1,385,487 (22.23%)
White 4,580,195 (73.48%) Black 1,343,408 (21.55%) Am.Ind. 48,296 (0.77%) Hispanic 66,883 (1.07%) Other 100,524 (1.61%)

North Carolina has: 100 counties.
Five largest counties: Mecklenburg, Wake, Guilford, Forsyth, Cumberland. >
Five largest cities: Charlotte, Raleigh, Greensboro, Durham, Winston-Salem. >

Government
Governor: Michael F. Easley (D) elected in 2000, re-elected in 2004; term-limited in 2008.
State Legislature: North Carolina General Assembly House: 120 seats Senate: 50 seats
Local: Cities and Towns, Counties, More NACO Counties
U.S. House: 7D, 6R - 1. G.K. Butterfield (D) | 2. B.Etheridge (D) | 3. W.B.Jones (R) | 4. D.Price (D) | 5. V.Foxx (R) | 6. H.Coble (R) | 7. M.McIntyre (D) | 8. R.Hayes (R) | 9. S.Myrick (R) | 10. P.McHenry (R) | 11. H.Shuler (D) | 12. M.Watt (D) | 13. B.Miller (D).
U.S. Senate: Elizabeth Dole (R) up for re-election in 2008, Richard Burr (R) elected in 2004.

2008 update
Governor: In the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Bob Easley (D), Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue (D) defeated Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory (R) by 2,146,189 (50.27%) to 2,001,168 (46.88%) and 121,584 (2.85%) for Michael Munger (L).
U.S. Senate: State Sen. Kay Hagan (D) defeated Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) by 2,249,311 (52.65%) to 1,887,510 (44.18%) and 133,430 (3.12%) for Christopher Cole (L).
U.S. House: In a re-match in the 8th CD (south central part of the state), Larry Kissel (D) defeated Rep. Robin Hayes (R) by 157,185 votes (55.38%) to 126,634 (44.62%). The U.S. House delegation goes from 7D, 6R to 8D, 5R in the 111th Congress.
> Democrats pick up governorship, U.S. Senate seat and a U.S. House seat. MORE

State of North Carolina
State Board of Elections

Libertarian Party of NC
NC Democratic Party
NC Greens
NC Republican Party
Constitution Party of NC

The Charlotte Observer
The News & Observer
Newspapers
TV, Radio

Politics1-NC
The Insider

The Tar Heel State

General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Voting Eligible Population*: 6,551,412.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 65.8%.

	Obama	McCain
Election Day	747,637	1,039,232
Absentee/One Stop	1,382,199	1,077,145
Provisional	12,815	12,097
Total	2,142,651	2,128,474

Official Results >
+Obama/Biden (Dem.)	2,142,651	(49.70)
McCain/Palin (Rep.)	2,128,474	(49.38)
Barr/Root (Lib.)	25,722	(0.60)
write ins	13,942	(0.32)
Total........4,310,789

2008 Overview
Obama-Biden carried North Carolina for the Democrats for the first time since 1976, but it was close, by a plurality of just 14,177 votes (0.32 percentage points). Obama carried 33 counties to 67 for McCain.
General Election Details
Obama/Allies | McCain/Allies | Nader

useful report -PDF

Primary Election -- Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Total Registration May 3, 2008: 5,801,880.
Dem. 2,625,522 (45.25%) Rep. 1,933,434 (33.32%) Unaffil. 1,242,924 (21.42%)
White 4,371,988 (75.35%) Black 1,198,672 (20.66%) Other 184,938 (3.19%)

Mail-In Voting: March 17 - April 29. One Stop Registration and Voting: April 17 - May 3.

Democrats
134 Delegates (115 Pledged, 19 Unpledged) and 19 Alternates.
3.31% of the 4,049 Delegate Votes.

Official Results

Hillary Clinton	657,669	41.61%
Mike Gravel	12,452	0.79%
+Barack Obama	887,391	56.14%
No Preference	23,214	1.47%
Total	1,580,726

Clinton | Obama
former: Edwards - Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards ended his campaign on Jan. 30, 2008. >

Republicans
69 Delegates: 3 RNC, 27 at-large, 39 CD (3 x 13 CDs).
2.90% of the 2,380 Delegates.

Official Results

Mike Huckabee	63,018	12.18%
Alan Keyes	13,596	2.63%
+John McCain	383,085	74.01%
Ron Paul	37,260	7.20%
No Preference	20,624	3.98%
Total	517,583

McCain
former: Huckabee

See also the April 2008 issue of North Carolina Data-Net, published by the Center for the Study of the American South's Program on Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Voting Eligible Population*: 6,055,771.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 57.8%.

Registration: Dem. 2,582,462 (46.78%) Rep. 1,903,199 (34.48%) Lib. 12,754 (0.23%) Unaffil. 1,021,648 (18.51%) ...Total 5,519,992

+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	1,961,166	(56.02)
Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)	1,525,849	(43.58)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.)	11,731	(0.34)
Ralph Nader (w/in)	1,805	(0.05)
Brown/Herbert (w/in)	348	(0.01)
David Cobb (w/in)	108	-
Total........3,501,007

2004 Overview
The Democratic ticket has not carried North Carolina since Jimmy Carter did in 1976, but Sen. Kerry's selection of Sen. Edwards as his running mate put the Tar Heel State into play. However the result was nearly the same as in 2000, as Bush amassed a plurality of 435,317 votes (12.44 percentage points).
General Election Details
Kerry/Allies | Bush-Cheney '04

[Primary: July 20, 2004. In Feb. 2004, the Board of Elections moved the primary back from May 4, 2004 because legislative district boundaries had yet to be approved].

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000

Voting Eligible Population*: 5,744,241.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 50.7%.

Registration: Dem. 2,588,137 (49.9%) Rep. 1,765,476 (34.0%) Lib. 6,909 (0.1%) Ref. 254 Unaffil. 831,857 (16.0%) ...5,186,094.

Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)	1,257,692	(43.20)
+Bush/Cheney (Rep.)	1,631,163	(56.03)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)	12,307	(0.42)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)	8,874	(0.30)
McReynolds/Hollis	1,226	(0.04)
Total........2,911,262

In 1999, the NC General Assembly passed legislation to allow in-person, no-excuse absentee voting. A voter could vote at any designated Absentee One-Stop voting site in his or her county from Oct. 16 to Nov. 3, 2000. 393,152 people did so. In addition there were 72,447 civilian absentee by mail votes and 3,766 military absentee returns.

2000 Overview
North Carolina, which went Republican by a very narrow margin in 1992, and a close but wider margin in 1996, went solidly into the GOP column in 2000, as Bush-Cheney secured a plurality of 373,471 votes (12.83 percentage points). Bush carried 75 counties to 25 for Gore. Bush won every county in the western part of the state and all the counties along the coast; Gore carried a cluster of 8 counties in the SE and another cluster of 17 counties in the NE. North Carolina did not see much activity at the presidential level, with the exception of the second presidential debate, held on Oct. 11 at Wake Forest University.
General Election Activity

Notes: North Carolina's onerous ballot access requirements -- 51,324 signatures by May 17, 2000 -- resulted in a limited range of choices for the state's voters. After the Nader campaign fell short, it went to court seeking an injunction to put him on the ballot. U.S. District Judge W. Earl Britt turned down their request (Aug. 9 ruling), and an appeal to the 4th Circuit likewise proved unsuccessful (Sept. 15).

1992 and 1996 General Elections

1992

Bush (Rep.)..........1,134,661	(43.34)
Clinton (Dem.).......1,114,042	(42.65)
Perot (Unaff.)...........357,864	(13.70)
Others (Marrou+w/ins).5,283	(0.21)
Total........2,611,850

1996

Dole (Rep.)...........1,225,938	(48.73)
Clinton (Dem.).......1,107,849	(44.04)
Perot (Ref.)..............168,059	(6.68)
Others (2+w/ins)........13,961	(0.55)
Total........2,515,807

2004 page >
2000 page >