EDITORIAL: In NC, statewide races show even divide

Image courtesy of NC State Board of Elections

So now we know that former President Donald Trump carried North Carolina once again on his way to a victory that included a narrow sweep of the battleground states and strong showings in red territory. He took more than 51 percent of the vote in NC, meaning that Vice President Kamala Harris would have lost NC even without all the third-party candidates. In the end she fell behind by about 190,000 votes, slightly higher than the population of Cary. We’ll never know what effect the presence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would have had on the election.

But let’s put that aside for now and look at what happened in the undercard.

Of our 14 US House seats, 10 went to Republicans and just four for Democrats, their gerrymander affecting the balance of power in Washington. Nationwide, the House ended up with 214 Republicans and 203 Democrats. Fair districts in NC, where registered Democrats still outnumber registered Republicans by about 100,000 voters — smaller than the population of High Point — might have resulted in a more fair distribution of our representation in Congress, and a more even balance in the House. Instead things went exactly as planned.

But it is impossible to gerrymander a statewide election, so our Council of State races portend what might have been. The governor’s race was the biggest one, the first to be called on election night, but it gets an asterisk because of Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s scandal-ridden campaign. The other nine council of state races shook out in a way that seemed more representative of NC voters, with five going to Republicans and four to Democrats. And Democrats won the biggest races in that sector, securing lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction. In those last two races, attorney Democrats beat Trump-aligned Republicans by more than 2 points apiece.

The tallies track with the results of the presidential contest, and also the NC Supreme Court race, which was decided for Republican Judge Jefferson C. Griffin over incumbent Democrat Allison Riggs by just 7,641 votes, which is smaller than the town of Graham and close enough that it’s heading for a recount.

The numbers show just how evenly divided our state is and how slim the Republican majority is, but also how far apart we are in issues and ideology. No solutions here, just math.