Client Alert

The Battle Cry may have been "Change" on the Federal Level, but the results were mainly "Status Quo" on the State Level. Based on the unofficial results posted by the NC Board of Elections, with provisional ballots left to count, Barack Obama leads John McCain by 12,000 votes out of 4.2 million cast in that race, while State Senator Kay Hagan upended incumbent Republican Senator Elizabeth Dole. School teacher Larry Kissell defeated incumbent Republican Congressman Robin Hayes, as all other incumbent Congressmen held on to their seats with comfortable margins. This makes the North Carolina federal delegation consist of one Republican Senator and one Democrat Senator, while the Democrats hold the edge in the Congressional delegation by an 8-5 margin.

On the state level, Lt. Governor Bev Perdue (D) defeated Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory by a 50%-47% margin. In the Council of State races, only one seat changed hands, as Beth Wood (D) gained the office of State Auditor over incumbent Leslie Merritt (R). In all other Council of State offices, either the incumbent won, or the offices remained in the same party. The Council of State will look like this for the next four years: Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton (D), Secretary of State Elaine Marshall (D), State Auditor Beth Wood (D), Treasurer Janet Cowell (D), Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson (D), Attorney General Roy Cooper (D), Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler (R), Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry (R), and Commissioner of Insurance Wayne Goodwin (D). Dalton, Wood, Cowell, and Goodwin will be new members of the Council.

The 2008 races did little to change the make up of the North Carolina General Assembly. Only two incumbents lost, and both of those were House Democrats. The 68 to 52 Democratic majority remained, with Speaker Joe Hackney expected to retain the reins in that body. The losses by the two incumbents, Jim Harrell and Walter Church, who both lost close races, were made up by the Democratic victories in two open seats previously held by retiring Republicans Bill Daughtridge (R -Nash) and Charles Thomas (R-Buncombe). Prior to the election there was speculation about defeating incumbents on both sides, and although there were a number of very close races, all other incumbents appear to be retaining their seats.

In the Senate, there was pre-election speculation that the Republicans could make gains, and one pundit even stated the Republicans would take over the Senate. However, the Democrats held all the current seats, except the open seat vacated by Lt. Governor-elect Walter Dalton, where current House member Debbie Clary (R) won by 730 votes. This brings the total in the Senate to 30 (D) to 20 (R). No change is expected in Senate leadership, and with former Senator Walter Dalton wielding the gavel in the chamber, little change is expected in the operation of the body.

There were a number of close races in both the House and the Senate. Anticipated upsets did not happen. Both parties felt they could pick up more seats in this election, but did not. Some hard fought and closely watched races in the House were in seats held by Hugh Holliman (D), Nelson Dollar (R), Van Braxton (D), Alice Underhill (D), Cullie Tarleton (D), and Ray Warren (D), which were all won by the incumbents. Several open seats were also hotly contested, but the incumbent party held these seats.

In the Senate, there were a number of highly contested races, all of which featured Democratic incumbents and two open seats to defend. Debbie Clary (R) won one of the open seats, and Don Davis (D) won the seat vacated by Sen. John Kerr, defeating incumbent House member Louis Pate. Democratic Senators R.C. Soles, Julia Boseman, Tony Foriest, Joe Sam Queen, and Steve Goss all survived hard fought races.

There are approximately 50,000 provisional ballots out in the state, but they usually do not affect the results of the election. However, there are a number of races that are particularly close, so when the Board of Elections canvasses the election in a week, the results might change, and several of the races, particularly the legislative races may be subject to a recount. We will advise you if there are any changes after the canvas.

For a more in-depth look at the North Carolina election results, click here.

Government Affairs Group
Womble Carlyle is an experienced and effective government affairs advocate in Washington, as well as North Carolina and Georgia. Our Government Affairs group includes members from both major political parties who previously held the following positions: four-term North Carolina Governor; former Maryland Governor; Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court; General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel of the FEC; four-term North Carolina State Senator; Chief of Staff to the Co-Speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives; and two Chiefs of Staff to United States Senators.

If you have any questions regarding this Client Alert, please contact either the Womble Carlyle attorney with whom you usually work or one of our North Carolina Government Affairs professionals: Governor Jim Hunt or Burley Mitchell.