NC Newsline

Just under 1.8 million North Carolinians (about 24 percent of registered voters) cast ballots in the state’s 2024 primary election that concluded on Tuesday, and for the most part, they voted as expected.

At the top of the ticket races, President Joe Biden, former President Donald Trump, Attorney General Josh Stein, and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson all won easily as expected.

Likewise, other statewide races for Council of State offices and the judiciary went largely as expected, with name recognition and funding advantages playing a big role. Among the examples:

• Jeff Jackson won the Democratic primary for attorney general Tuesday night, getting 54 percent of the vote. Jackson, a congressman running for state office because he was likely gerrymandered out of his seat, beat Satana Deberry, Durham’s district attorney, and Tim Dunn, a former prosecutor in the Marine Corps and current defense attorney in Fayetteville. Jackson will face Republican congressman Dan Bishop, the author of North Carolina’s infamous “bathroom bill” who was recently endorsed by Trump, in the general election. Bishop did not have a primary opponent.
• State senator Rachel Hunt glided to victory in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, winning with 70 percent of the vote. Hunt faced her fellow state senator Ben Clark and Mark H. Robinson. On the Republican side, no clear winner had emerged from a crowded field of 11 candidates, and with no one receiving 30 percent of the vote, the race appeared to be headed for a runoff. Hal Weatherman, who is from Charlotte, led with 19 percent of the vote. Forsyth County prosecutor Jim O’Neill placed second with just under 16 percent.
• Democratic incumbent Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs prevailed by a large margin over Lora Cubbage, a Superior Court judge. Riggs won 69 percent of the vote. In November, she will face Jefferson Griffin, a Republican judge currently on the Court of Appeals. Griffin did not have a primary opponent.

One big exception to the “as predicted” outcomes Tuesday took place in the GOP race for Superintendent of Public Instruction. In a shocker, Republican challenger Michele Morrow defeated incumbent Catherine Truitt.

Morrow gained notoriety as a far-right conservative Wake County Board of Education candidate in 2022. In that race, Morrow was endorsed by the Wake County Republican Party and Moms for Liberty. Morrow ended up with a 52-48 percent victory and margin of around 37,000 votes.

She will face Democratic nominee Maurice “Mo” Green in November, who won more than 66 percent of the vote in his contest. Green is a longtime educator who became the first Black superintendent of Guilford County Schools in 2008. He resigned in 2015 to head the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation in Winston-Salem. He held that post until March.

Other notable Council of State outcomes on Tuesday:

• Democrat Wesley Harris will face Republican Brad Briner to replace retiring state Treasurer Dale Folwell.
• Democrat Natasha Marcus will square off against incumbent Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey.
• A runoff looks likely in the GOP contest for Auditor between newcomers Jack Clark and Dave Boliek. The winner will face incumbent Jessica Holmes in November.

Runoffs also look likely in the GOP races in the 6th and 13th congressional districts.

• In the 6th, Addison McDowell and former Congressman Mark Walker were the top vote-getters with 26 percent and 24 percent respectively.
• In the crowded 13th, Kelly Daughtry led Brad Knott 27.3 percent to 18.6 percent.

One race that won’t need a runoff is in the newly drawn 14th District, where State House Speaker Tim Moore won the GOP primary with 75 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

In a pair of much-watched legislative races, middle school teacher Rodney Pierce of Halifax County is ahead of 10-term Democratic incumbent Michael Wray by 42 votes in the race for House District 27, a three-county district on the Virginia border. The results are not official. Tuesday night’s total does not include any votes from provisional ballots.

Wray has voted with Republicans on the state budget and charter school bills, and has voted with Republicans to overturn some of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes, NC Newsline has reported. A conservative PAC connected to Republican House leadership boosted Wray in his campaign, sending mail praising Wray to district voters.

Meanwhile, in Guilford County, Cecil Brockman, the other House Democrat the conservative House PAC supported, is leading primary challenger James Adams, a former High Point NAACP president, by 50.7 percent to 49.3 percent. Like Wray, Brockman has broken with Democrats to support the Republican budget and charter school legislation.

Other notable state legislative outcomes included:

• Newcomer Sophia Chitlik defeating incumbent Durham Democratic Senator Mike Woodard 57-43 percent, and
• College student Wyatt Gable narrowly defeating veteran incumbent Onslow County Republican George Cleveland

 

On a busy Super Tuesday, most NC races went as expected