By Gary D. Robertson
Associated Press
RALEIGH (AP) — Republican Dan Forest scored a convincing win Tuesday over fellow Raleigh resident Tony Gurley for the right to run for lieutenant governor in November as voters chose party nominees in Council of State runoff races.
Forest, an architect, had 68 percent of the vote compared to 32 percent for Gurley, a Wake County commissioner, with nearly all precincts reporting unofficial results. Forest will take on Democratic nominee Linda Coleman, who won in the May primary.
Forest and Gurley, like other pairs of candidates on Tuesday, had failed in May to receive the more than 40 percent needed to win outright, setting up the runoff.
According to nearly complete unofficial results, other victors in Council of State races were Republican Mike Causey for state insurance commissioner, who defeated former House Co-Speaker Richard Morgan; John Tedesco, who beat Richard Alexander in the GOP runoff for superintendent of public instruction; and Ed Goodwin, who defeated Kenn Gardner in the Republican runoff for secretary of state.
In the only Democratic statewide race, John Brooks defeated Marlowe Foster in the runoff for labor commissioner.
Forest, who had never run for elected office before now, attributed his victory to strong grassroots support and a clear, bold message based on limited government. He had spent the past six weeks going door-to-door seeking votes.
“We got in the race a year and a half ago and said we were going to outwork everybody in the campaign,” Forest, the son of U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick, said in an interview. He said the race between him and Coleman would provide voters “a very clear choice in November.”
Coleman, a former state House member and state personnel director, put out a fundraising email Tuesday night saying Forest has “no political leadership experience to speak of. He has made clear that he is beholden to a divisive, partisan agenda that is wrong for the people of North Carolina.”
Causey, a former insurance agent who ran three times unsuccessfully against then-Commissioner Jim Long, now will take on Democratic incumbent Wayne Goodwin. With nearly all precincts reporting Tuesday, Causey had 57 percent of the runoff vote.
Tedesco had 54 percent of the vote in the superintendent’s race, according to nearly complete results. Tedesco, a Wake County school board member, will run against Democratic Superintendent June Atkinson.
The Republican nominee to take on Secretary of State Elaine Marshall will be Goodwin, a Chowan County commissioner, who received 55 percent of the vote.
Brooks, the labor commissioner from 1977 to 1993, gets another chance to return to the post after losing a 2008 runoff. Brooks received 54 percent of the vote, with nearly all precincts reporting. He’ll take on Republican Commissioner Cherie Berry in the fall.

Statewide runoff results with 99 percent of precincts
reporting

Lieutenant Governor GOP
Dan Forest 100,541
Tony Gurley 47,617

Insurance Commissioner GOP
Mike Causey 80,142
Richard Morgan 59,339

Secretary of State GOP
Ed Goodwin 73,689
Kenn Gardner 61,529

Superintendent of Public Instruction GOP
John Tedesco 74,812
Richard Alexander 62,608

Labor Commissioner Democrat
John Brooks 31,060
Marlowe Foster 26,253