STEIN DEFEATS ROBINSON
FOR NC GOVERNOR; TRUMP
WINS NORTH CAROLINA
By Cash Michaels
It didn’t take long on Election night for Democrat Josh Stein to claim victory after his unofficial win for governor. With 55% of statewide precincts reporting in, Stein, currently the NC attorney general, defeated controversial Trump-endorsed Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson of Greensboro by 15 points..
“Thank you for believing in the promise of North Carolina,” Stein told supporters at a watch party in Raleigh.
Lt. Gov. Robinson, who lost support from fellow Republicans after controversial comments denouncing women, Jews, Muslims, LBTGQ+ and Blacks, followed by an explosive CNN Report accusing him of calling himself a “Black Nazi” on a porn site, now finds himself a political outsider once he leaves office in December.
“I’m not sad for me, I’m sad for you,” a tearful Robinson, the first Black lt. governor in North Carolina history, told supporters.
Sources say that once Stein takes office in December, the Republican-led North Carolina General Assembly is expected to pass legislation to further take power away from his office.
Meanwhile, Republican former Pres. Donald Trump outlasted Democrat presidential opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, 51% to 47% with 100% of precincts reporting in to unofficially win North Carolina’s 16 Electoral College votes. Both Harris and Trump made repeated trips to campaign in the state in recent days, hoping to secure North Carolina as an important battleground state on the road to 270.
Back to NC Council of State races, with 100% of precincts tallied, Democrat Jeff Jackson unofficially outpolled Republican NC Congressman Dan Bishop, 51.4% to 48.6% to become North Carolina’s next attorney general.
Incumbent State Auditor Jessica Holmes lost a close race to Republican Dan Boliek 49.4% to 47.6%, while former Guilford County Schools Supt. Maurice “Mo” Green defeated Republican opponent Michele Morrow for state superintendent for Public Instruction, 51% to 49%.
For the NC Supreme Court with 100% of precincts reporting in, conservative Republican Jefferson Griffin ousted incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs, 50.2% to 49.8% in unofficial returns. That means there will now be just one Democratic justice seated on the seven member NC High Court.
On the NC Court of Appeals, Republican Tom Murry defeated Democrat ic incumbent Judge Carolyn Jennings Thompson, 50.9% to 49.1%
For Congress, 12th District U.S. Rep All Adams was re-elected, and Fourth District Democratic Congresswoman Valerie Foushee won a second term to Congress Tuesday..
Finally, North Carolinians passed an amendment to the state constitution that prohibited non-citizens from voting, which was already the law before the measure passed.
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HOW DID NC’s BLACK VOTE
PERFORM IN ELECTION 2024?
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
As always, the African-American vote was a critical part of the November 5th general election. Did the mostly Democratic voting bloc turnout in the numbers that the party needed?
At the end of early voting, which saw a record over 4.2 million North Carolina early votes cast in this election, various analysts expressed concern about the amount of Black vote cast versus in 2020.
“About 17,000 more Black voters showed up for in-person early voting than four years ago,”wrote veteran political analyst Thomas Mills. “In total, 791,000 African Americans voted early. Democrats need about 300,000 Black voters to show up on Election Day.”
Did that happen? At press time, it was too early to determine how North Carolina’s Black voting bloc performed on Election Day, but a snapshot of Black voting behavior during early voting creates a picture of what Black voters needed to accomplish on Election Day.
A statistical breakdown of the five top counties by turnout from the North Carolina State Board of Elections shows in Wake County, out of 863,176 total registered voters, 510,175, some 59.1% had early voted by November 2rd. Of that number, 328,980 were white; 83,302 of 152,182 (54.7%) were Black, and 97,893 were other.
In Mecklenburg County, out of 839,672 total registered voters, 55.0% or 461,822 early voted. Of that number, 261,123 were white; 129,485 of 250, 247 (51.7%) were Black; and 71,214 were other.
In Guilford County, where 228,555 (57.5%) out of 397,722 total registered voters early voted, 130,378 were white; 70,228 (53.2%) of 132,118 were Black; and 27,949 were other.
In Forsyth County, the total number of registered voters there is 280,085, of which 166,473 (59.4%) early voted. Of that number, 107,960 were white; 37,490 (55.1%) of 68,043 were Black; and 21, 023 were classified as other.
Rounding out the top five counties, Durham County saw 154,835 (61.1%) of its 253,531 registered voters early vote by Nov. 2nd. Of that number 81,765 were white; 43,750 (57.8%) of 75,748 were Black; and 29,320 were other.
As Stella Adams, veteran elections analyst says, per the Black vote across the state, but particularly in counties like Wake, Mecklenburg, Guilford and Durham, Election Day Black voter turnout was crucial not just for the Harris-Trump race, but all of the important down ballot races as well.
So what Black voters did on Nov. 5th, that they didn’t do during the seventeen-day early voting period beforehand, was critical.
In an earlier analysis, Thomas Mills made note of concerning deficits in Black early voting turnout just four days into the early voting period.
“So far, there are more than 67,000 fewer African American voters than there were in 2020 at this point. That’s a huge deficit that Democrats should be scrambling to address,” Mills wrote during the first week of early voting. “They need to be shifting money and people to connect with Black voters and get them to the polls.”
“The problem is widespread,” Mills continued. “In Durham County, there are 4,500 fewer Black voters this year than four years ago. In Mecklenburg, the number is 5,000. In Wake, it’s a little more than 3,000. In Cumberland, the Black vote is down by 5,000. In Guilford, the number is more than 8,500.”
“This is a turnout election,” Adams stressed prior to the polls closing on Election Day. “Where we needed the high turnout was in the urban centers, because traditionally, they’re more progressive in how they vote.”
Adams added that getting at least 75% high turnout counties like Durham and Orange with the “purest” Democratic voters was important, thus their Black voter turnout on Election Day made all the difference in elections that were generally so close.
At press time Tuesday, none of the top five counties had a 75% Black early voting turnout - Wake (54.7%); Mecklenburg (51.7%); Guilford (53.2%); Forsyth (55.1%) or Durham (57.8%) had reached that plateau. So what they did on Election Day was of key concern, especially given how Republicans and unaffiliated dominated early voting.
Adams added that if the Democratic Party is not doing all it can to get more of its registered Black voters to the polls, then that will be a problem that will consistently bite it in coming elections.
According to Adams, African-Americans over 65 dominated early voting at 80% or higher in the community, the majority of those being females. Working African-American adults between the ages of 30-50 were the ones underperforming and voting at less than 60%.
Again, a breakdown of Election Day final turnout numbers will determine whether the slack in younger Black voters was made up sufficiently. But given that Republican Donald Trump ultimately won North Carolina on Election night, Black voter turnout apparently fell short on Election Day.
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