How did the NC GOP do in the November 2020 elections? Here is the big picture at the local, state, and national level, including the presidency.

Local level. Before the election Republicans controlled 59 County commissions. After the election the GOP controls 61 County commissions. Since Democrats control commissions with greater county populations, the counties controlled by Republican/Democrat members is about 50/50. It will skew more to the Democrats after the 2020 census figures are reported.

State level. In legislative races Republicans went from 65 to 69 representatives of the 120-member State House, short of the 72 required to override a veto. A veto override is much more achievable with 69 than with 65 votes. In the 2011-2012 session the NC GOP held 68 House seats. Overrides of Governor Perdue’s vetoes prevailed 8 times. There were 17 Democrats who voted one or more times to override Governor Perdue. There are more than 3 persuadable House Democrats.

The State Senate went from 29 to 28 Republicans: Democrats from 21 to 22. A veto override is still possible. There are more than 2 persuadable Democrats in the Senate.

The State Appellate Courts saw a clean sweep for Republicans. All five Court of Appeals races were won by highly qualified Republican judges. Judge Phil Berger, Jr. won his race for the State Supreme Court, so Governor Cooper appointed Darren Jackson, the House Minority Leader, to the resulting vacancy on the Court of Appeals. After that replacement the numbers on the Court of Appeals are 10 Republicans (Stroud (Chief), Dillon, Tyson, Murphy, Dietz, Zachary, Gore, Griffin, Carpenter, Wood) and 5 Democrats (Arrowood, Collins, Hampson, Inman, Jackson). The Court of Appeals has always voted in panels of three.

The State Supreme Court was a clean sweep with Justices Paul Newby, Tamara Barringer and Phil Berger Jr. prevailing. That trio includes the significance of Chief Justice Newby who also directs the Administrative Office of the Courts and its thousands of employees in every courthouse. Many of these are independently elected or controlled on some issues, but statewide administrative control is through the AOC. Judge Drew Heath was appointed as Administrator of the Administrative Office of the Courts. There are four Democrat Justices – Robin Hudson, Sam Ervin IV, Michael Morgan and Anita Earls.

At the trial court level there are now, at the Superior Court level, 24 Republicans, 35 Democrats and 36 unaffiliated judges. In 1994 there was only one Republican Superior Court Judge. At the District Court level there are now 130 Republicans, 128 Democrats and 2 unaffiliated judges.

Council of State – The GOP won a 6 – 4 majority on the Council of State. The presiding officer, Governor Cooper, has never called for recorded votes. That needs to change. Some have asked for an explanation how the NC GOP lost four of the ten races statewide while winning six handily. It is not a surprise that Governor Cooper won by 4.5% over Dan Forrest. Governor Cooper was on television for free almost every day for 8 months telling people how to be safe. He refused to take hard questions from the press. He had been on the statewide ballot 5 previous times preceded by many successful runs for the state house and senate as well. Between Cooper’s own- campaign and outside groups, he outspent Dan Forest at least 10 to 1. Dan Forest outperformed all the polls taken prior to the election. They had him down by 10. Dan has a great future in North Carolina politics.

Josh Stein was reelected as Attorney General by only 10,000 votes out of 5 million cast. He raised and spent $12 million to Jim O’Neal’s $1.1 million. Stein plans to run for governor in 2024. That vote margin should have him shaking in his boots, especially if he runs again for Attorney General against O’Neal.

It is no surprise that Elaine Marshall won re-election as Secretary of State. She has been on the ballot statewide (including a run for the U.S. Senate) for 28 years. She had universal name recognition. E.C. Sykes did much better than expected and has a great future in state politics. It is no surprise that Beth Wood won re-election as State Auditor. She had name recognition, incumbency and few complaints about her work as State Auditor. It did not help the Republican candidate that he was not an accountant, certified or not.

Mark Robinson was heavily outspent (over $8 million from Michael Bloomberg), but Mark won big as North Carolina’s first African American Lt. Governor. Dale Folwell was handily reelected as State Treasurer, Steve Troxler as Commissioner of Agriculture, and Mike Causey as Commissioner of Insurance. Catherine Truitt was elected as  Superintendent of Public Instruction and Josh Dobson as Commissioner of Labor.

The entire election machinery in N.C. is controlled by Democrat Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein. These were fantastic results for the NC GOP in the face of huge financial headwinds.

National level. Democrats were expecting to gain (and Republicans expecting to lose) a dozen seats in the US House. Instead, Republicans won almost every seriously contested seat, a net gain of 12 seats. This will result in the smallest margin (222-213) for a house majority in decades. If a few Democrats switch on a vote Nancy Pelosi loses.

Democrats were expecting November 3rd to result in an advantage of about 52-48 in the US Senate. They only came up with 48 seats, putting Republicans in position to maintain a 52-48 majority. Our own Thom Tillis defeated the Democrat, despite a massive spending disadvantage in what was, until then, the most expensive U.S. Senate race in history. I leave it to the pundits why Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock beat David Perdue and Kelly Loefler in the January 5 Georgia runoff. Instead of an easy layup to maintain the GOP majority in the US Senate, the ball was turned over, making Vice President Kamala Harris the majority maker.

Before the election Republicans held 59 State Legislative Chambers. Democrats held 39. Democrats put untold hundreds of millions toward flipping a dozen chambers so as to have an advantage in the 2021 Congressional redistricting. Their effort failed miserably. Two chambers flipped, but to the GOP – the New Hampshire House and Senate. It is now GOP chambers 61 to 37 Democrat Chambers.

Consider the number of individual legislative seats gained or lost. In the 49 State Senates Republicans held 1059 seats and Democrats held 860 seats before the election. After the election Republicans hold 1067 state senate seats and Democrats hold 851, a net gain of 8 for Republican state senators. The GOP picked up one Governor’s mansion in Montana.

Before the election Republicans held 2789 seats in the 49-State Houses. Democrats held 2600. After the election GOP members hold 2927 state house seats and Democrats hold 2452, a net gain of 138 for the GOP and a net loss for the Democrats of 148. 10 went to other parties. Nebraska is unicameral, officially nonpartisan and not included.

Republicans controlled both legislative chambers and the governor’s office in Georgia and Arizona. Republicans held both legislative chambers, but not the Governor’s office, in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. Republicans have significant control over election law and/or election machinery in all 5 battleground states.

The Presidency in North Carolina. Donald Trump won with 49.93 percent to Biden’s 48.59 percent, what pollsters had predicted.

Republicans had a great election (which sort of concluded in November of 2020 and finally concluded in January 2021), with the exception of the Presidency and Georgia.