Opinion: I spent election night in my home state. North Carolina gave me a glimmer of hope.
Attending the Kamala Harris rally in Charlotte, NC, gave me some hope. Watching Democrats keep the governorship kept that hope alive.
North Carolina had a weird election night.
Donald Trump took the state by almost 190,000 votes – the largest margin he’s won in North Carolina in the past three presidential elections.
Meanwhile, the state elected Democrat Josh Stein its governor with nearly 55% of the vote and beat a MAGA candidate in the process.
The state’s Supreme Court could shift further to the right, but Democrats have broken the Republican supermajority in the state’s House of Representatives. Republicans gained the State Auditor’s seat, while Democrats won state superintendent.
Over the past year, I have told countless people that I believed North Carolina would once again turn red on election night. What I’ve observed in my state has been a persistent Republican presence and support for the MAGA agenda.
North Carolina’s split ticket voters continue to elude me, but one thing is for certain: The gains the Democratic Party made in the state make me hopeful for the future of the party.
Asheville voted despite still not having clean water after Helene
In the days leading up to the election, I drove across North Carolina to get a sense of how the state was going to vote.
On Friday before Election Day, I went to Asheville, where residents are still living without clean water. While there, I witnessed Democratic voters turning out en masse for early voting despite the recent devastation of Hurricane Helene. While much of North Carolina shifted further to the right when compared with 2020, a lot of counties in western North Carolina shifted further left.
One polling place I visited was also acting as a clean water station, a place to get hot meals and a donation drop-off spot. I spoke to Democratic volunteer Sherry Banner, who said that the storm hadn’t influenced her decision to campaign for the party.
“My decision came as we got closer and closer to the election,” Banner told me. “I got more and more afraid of what can happen if it doesn’t go the way I want it to go.”
At another site, the local Democrats had signs for people to pose with that read “biscuit lovers against bigotry” and “stronger than storms, stronger than hate.”
“Asheville is politically strong in their beliefs,” voter EJ Wright told me outside the East Asheville Library. “It doesn’t matter if there was still floodwaters out here, I think people would still be out here trying to vote.”
Harris' rally in Charlotte was my moment of hope
The next day, I drove to Charlotte to hear Vice President Kamala Harris speak. PNC Music Pavilion was filled with thousands of Harris supporters. Just up the road in Greensboro, Trump was speaking to a sparse arena that Harris had previously filled.
After spending an afternoon with Harris’ supporters, I assumed North Carolina had a shot at going blue this election cycle. It was a lofty goal, but a real possibility given that Stein was polling so far ahead of the scandal-ridden lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson. I assumed, incorrectly, that there was no way for there to be that many split ticket voters.
Spending election night with Democrats in a battleground state
On election night, I was in Raleigh at the North Carolina Democrats’ watch party, where the candidates for council of state were awaiting the results. Early in the night, we found out that Stein had defeated Robinson. In fact, Stein received 160,000 more votes in the state than Trump did.
“We chose hope over hate, competence over chaos, decency over division,” the governor-elect told the crowd at the North Carolina Democrats’ watch party. “That’s who we are as North Carolinians.”
The night quickly took a turn from there.
There were some wins for Democrats: Rep. Jeff Jackson was elected the state’s attorney general over Republican Dan Bishop; Maurice (Mo) Green defeated right-wing extremist Michele Morrow in the race for State Superintendent of Public Instruction and Rachel Hunt defeated Hal Weatherman in the lieutenant governor’s race, handing the office to the Democrats for the first time in 16 years.
They also broke the Republican supermajority in the General Assembly, which means that Stein will have the power to veto any extremism passed in the legislature. It's a relief when compared with Robinson, an offensive ultra-MAGA candidate who would have set the state back a generation.
Reality is that North Carolina is still for Trump
I’m not surprised that Harris lost North Carolina. While I saw her making gains in bluer regions of the state, Trump still has a stronghold on the rural areas.
In Mount Airy, my rural hometown, I saw countless Trump lawn signs. He won 76% of the vote in the county.
On the other hand, I hope that people do not use this as a moment to write off the South as deserving of what comes next. There are people in every part of the country who believe in the values Harris espoused. Even in my conservative hometown, I spoke with a woman at the grocery store who told me abortion rights were the biggest concern for her.
At the end of the day, I’m excited that North Carolina Democrats had some overall successes on an otherwise disappointing night. I hope the party ramps up the momentum going forward and continues trying to reach voters in all parts of the state – not just its blue cities.
Follow Paste BN elections columnist Sara Pequeño on X, formerly Twitter, @sara__pequeno