Second Time A Charm For McCrory
No shocker here, as former Queen City boy mayor Pat McCrory had amassed a huge campaign war chest and was running against an opponent tied at the hip to the most unpopular governor in the nation. Still, give McCrory credit for not fumbling what nearly every pundit predicted would be a cakewalk into the end zone. Unofficial results have McCrory with 55% of the statewide vote, Democrat Walter Dalton with 43% and Libertarian Barbara Howe with 2%. Full results here.
Coupled with other GOP victories down ballot, including a hard-fought win by Dan Forrest for lieutenant governor, marks a shift for NC politics, or so argues John Hood over at Carolina Journal:
After winning majorities in both houses of the General Assembly in 2010 for the first time since Reconstruction, the GOP didn’t just retain control this year. They expanded their numbers significantly, to 32-18 in the state senate and 77-43 in the state house, thanks to favorable redistricting, better candidate recruitment and fundraising, and the statewide turnout effort for Romney and McCrory. The same factors also delivered a solid 9-4 Republican majority in the congressional delegation, up from a 6-7 deficit right now. And in an officially nonpartisan race that is in fact very partisan, Republican Paul Newby retained his post on the North Carolina Supreme Court, thus maintaining GOP control of that critical institution.
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The bottom line here is that while the nation decided to ratify the status quo, North Carolina opted for change. I’m not surprised. Our unemployment rate has been among the highest in the nation for years. A combination of economic woes and poor management has produced both short-term budget deficits and long-term fiscal liabilities. Our education system, while showing signs of improvement in some areas, is not yet competitive with the best systems in America and the developed world. Our transportation system is plagued by maintenance problems and clogged by some of the most congested urban interstates in the country.
Pat McCrory and GOP lawmakers asked North Carolina voters for the job of taking on these daunting challenges. The voters said yes. Now Gov.-elect McCrory and a greatly expanded Republican majority will have to deliver.
We’ll see. In his victory speech, McCrory pledged to “bring this state together.” Given his history as Charlotte mayor, that likely translates as a move to center-left. Time will tell.
McCrory’s victory speech, via WRAL:
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