How did the GOP do in the November 2022 elections? Here is the big picture at the local, state, and national levels.

Local level. Before the election Republicans controlled 61 County commissions. After the elections, the GOP controls 67 County commissions. Since Democrats control commissions with greater county populations, the population of counties controlled by Republican members vs Democrat members is about 50/50.

Before the Election, there were 45 GOP Clerks of Court and 55 Democrat Clerks of Court. After the Election of 2022, there are 54 GOP Clerks of Court and 45 Democrats.

Before the Election, there were 58 GOP Sheriffs and 40 Democrats as Sheriffs with 2 unaffiliated. After the Election of 2022, there are 64 GOP Sheriffs, a net gain of 6.

Republican candidates swept nearly half of the partisan School Board race – 290 total seats in 85 of the 115 school districts. There were 137 partisan races out of which Republicans won 103 and Democrats 34. Of the 41 school boards elected on a partisan basis, the GOP won all seats in 20 while Democrats swept 4. A majority of school districts are elected on a nonpartisan basis. Counties with nonpartisan boards tend to have a larger population.  It may be the number of schools governed by GOP members and Democrat members is about the same.

State Legislative level. Republicans went from 69 to 71 members of the 120-member State House- one member short of the 3/5 required for a veto override if all members are present and voting. A veto override is much more achievable with 71 than with 69. The State Senate went from 28 to 30 Republicans, a “veto-proof” supermajority. Democrats fell from 22 to 20.

Results were uneven across the State. In the 80 counties won by Ted Budd the GOP dominated. But in the 20 counties won by Cheri Beasley Democrats dominated. Wake and Mecklenburg have 38 legislators, but only 2 Republicans, Erin Pare of Southern Wake and John Bradford of northern Mecklenburg. (Senator Vickie Sawyer of Iredell has a small part of Mecklenburg.)

Remember that in the 2011-2012 session the GOP held 68 House seats. Overrides of Gov. Perdue’s vetoes prevailed 8 times. There were 17 House Democrats who voted one or more times to override her. Gov. Cooper would have been overridden this year on the Budget if he had not signed it.

The State Supreme Court was a clean sweep with Republicans Richard Dietz and Trey Allen prevailing. On January 1, 2023, the Supreme Court will go from a 4-3 Democratic majority to a 5-2 Republican majority. Chief Justice Newby’s 401-vote victory in 2020 is still important. The Chief Justice directs the Administrative Office of the Courts and its thousands of employees in every courthouse. Some of these are independently elected or controlled on some issues but statewide administrative control is in the Chief through the Administrative Office of the Courts.

The next two seats up for reelection in 2024 (Morgan) and 2026 (Earls) are also held by Democrats, meaning that Republicans will retain control of the court through at least 2028.

The State Court of Appeals was a clean sweep for Republicans. All four races were won by highly qualified candidates: Julee Tate Flood, Donna Stroud, John M. Tyson, and Michael J. Stading. The numbers on the Court of Appeals are now 11 Republicans (Stroud, Chief, Dillon, Tyson, Murphy, Zachary, Gore, Griffin, Carpenter, Wood, Flood, Stading) and 4 Democrats (Arrowood, Collins, Hampson, and a replacement for Judge Dietz, to be appointed by Gov. Cooper). The Court of Appeals has never voted as an entire group. It has always voted in panels of three.  Most panels will be two GOP judges and one Democrat.

This 6-seat sweep at the appellate level in 2022 follows an 8-seat sweep in 2020.

Of the seven statewide candidates the one with the most votes was Chief Judge Donna Stroud with over 2 million.

At the Superior Court level, there are now about an even number of Republican and Democratic Superior Court Judges with several who are unaffiliated. In 1994 there was only one Republican Superior Court Judge out of about 90. At the District Court level, this year Republicans won 51 seats, and Democrats won 43 seats. The partisan numbers are now about even.

National level. Republicans were expecting to gain (and Democrats were expecting to lose) about 25 seats in the US House. Instead, Republicans had a net gain of only 7 seats. This will result in the same margin for a House majority as Nancy Pelosi does now, with Republicans having a majority of only 222 to 213. If Gaetz, Boebert, Gosar, Greene, and Perry switch on a vote, Kevin McCarthy’s GOP caucus loses.

In early November 2022 GOP Senators were expecting to pick up one seat and come away with an advantage of 51-49. Instead, they came up with 49 seats putting Democrats with control ____ 51-49. In North Carolina, Ted Budd defeated Cheri Beasley on a vote of 50.5% to 47.3%. Budd won 80 counties.

While the House will stymie most of President Biden’s decisions, he and the Senate Majority can not be stopped from confi_____ dozens of judicial and executive appointments.

Before the election Republicans held 61 State Legislative Chambers and Democrats held 37. Five chambers flipped, but to the Democrats – the Michigan House and Senate, the Minnesota and Alaska Senates and the Pennsylvania House. It is now GOP chambers 56 to 40 Democrat chambers. Caveat: The Alaska Senate Majority Coalition is all 9 Democrats and 8 GOP of which the Speaker is GOP. The Pennsylvania House is Democrats 102 – 101 – GOP but one of the Democrats is deceased. Query: 61 + 37 = 98 instead of 99. 56 + 40 = 96 instead of 98.

The number of individual seats gained or lost is interesting. Before the election in the 49 State Senates Republicans held 1067 seats and Democrats held 851 seats. After the election, Republicans held 1104 State Senate seats and Democrats hold 849, a net gain of 37 for GOP state senators and a net loss of 2 for Democrats.

Before the election Republicans held 2927 seats in the 49 State Houses and Democrats held 2452. After the election GOP members hold 2923 State House seats and Democrats hold 2397, a net loss of 4 for the Republicans and a net loss for the Democrats of 55. The difference went to other parties. Nebraska is unicameral and officially nonpartisan although the majority are registered Republicans.  Its members are not included.

The Democrats picked up Governor’s mansions in Arizona, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The GOP picked up the governor’s position in Nevada, for a net loss of 2. As of January, there will be 28 GOP Governors and 22 Democrat Governors.

Overall North Carolina Republicans had good election results in 2022 and in several other states like Florida and Iowa. We even picked up Congressional seats in New York and California. Results were not so great in the rest of the country.