Cooper re-elected, Republican Robinson becomes NC's first Black Lt.Gov.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper jumped out to an early lead over Republican Dan Forest in the governor's race and never relinquished it Tuesday, winning election to a second four-year term to lead North Carolina.

Posted 1:24 a.m. Nov 4, 2020 — Updated 9:38 a.m. Nov 4, 2020

Matthew Burns

, WRAL.com senior producer/politics editor

RALEIGH, N.C. — Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper jumped out to an early lead over Republican Dan Forest in the governor's race and never relinquished it Tuesday, winning election to a second four-year term to lead North Carolina.

Meanwhile, Republican Mark Robinson succeeds Forest was lieutenant governor, becoming the first Black person to hold the state's No. 2 office.

With 99 percent or precincts reporting, Cooper held a 51-47 percent lead over Forest, according to unofficial results.

Libertarian Steven DiFiore and Constitution Party candidate Al Pisano have slightly more than 1 percent of the total votes combined.

North Carolina Election Results

"I'm grateful and humbled to the people who trusted me to continue the progress that we've already made," Cooper said in his victory speech.

"In order to move on in the coming weeks, we have a hard job ahead, and we have to get on with it," he continued. "We have to work harder than ever to understand each other's perspective, to strive to respect each other, even though our political beliefs may be different. Then we need to come together as a state and realize North Carolina's boundless potential."

Forest also tried to mend fences and urge healing in speaking to his supporters.

"We will be praying for the governor, his family and his leadership as we move forward," he said. "It's a time for healing for the state of North Carolina. It's a time to pull people together. It's a time to get beyond political differences and ideological differences and sometimes even philosophical differences that separate us and join together as the good people of North Carolina."

As more results came in during the night, Forest chipped away at his deficit, moving from 18 points down initially to five points down. But he could never quite catch up.

"We left it all of the field. We didn't leave anything out," he said.

Cooper's handling of the coronavirus pandemic has been the major issue in the race for months.

When the governor told restaurants statewide to close their dining rooms in March to limit the spread of the virus, Forest immediately questioned the validity of the order, noting that the governor hadn't gotten the rest of the Council of State to sign off on it. He continued to push for easing restrictions faster than Cooper was willing to move and quickly became the darling of the ReOpenNC movement, which staged several rallies and marches in Raleigh last spring.

By mid-summer, Forest challenged Cooper's shutdown orders in court, but he dropped his lawsuit after a judge refused to grant the injunction he sought. By early fall, he had shifted gears to focus on returning public school students to classrooms amid the pandemic, arguing that a number of private schools were holding in-person classes and had experienced few, if any, problems.

But nothing he did could dent Cooper's steady lead in the race. In the four polls WRAL News conducted between late April and late October, Cooper's smallest margin was seven points in mid-September. Since then, the governor has been at least 10-points ahead in the race.

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Polls have consistently shown the majority of North Carolinians feel the state has been moving at the right pace or even too quickly when it came to reopening businesses and schools and resuming other activities during the pandemic.

Cooper used his massive fundraising advantage – he raised nearly five times as much as Forest this year – to flood the airwaves with positive messages about his vision for North Carolina and ads attacking Forest for his stance on the pandemic. Outside groups also aired ads blasting Forest for questioning whether masks limit the spread of coronavirus and holding campaign events where supporters crowded together without masks.

Forest’s strategy of questioning everything mimicked President Donald Trump – he was a frequent guest at Trump rallies in North Carolina – but stood in contrast to the stances of many other Republican officials. U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, for example, openly commended Cooper for being cautious and encouraged mask-wearing.

Sniping over the pandemic dominated the lone debate between the two candidates, and it even leaked into online forums sponsored by state employee and education groups where the two men never spoke directly to each other and were supposed to focus on other topics.

Council of State incumbents in tight races

Robinson, a political newcomer, bested state Rep. Yvonne Holley, D-Wake, for lieutenant governor, 52-48 percent.

In other Council of State races, incumbents struggled to small leads or narrow victories:

Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein was a mere 13,000 votes ahead of Republican Jim O'Neill, the Forsyth County district attorney.
Democratic State Auditor Beth Wood held a 51-49 percent lead over Republican Tony Street.
Longtime Republican Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler defeated Democrat Jenna Wadsworth 54-46 percent.
Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey was leading Democrat Wayne Goodwin, a former commissioner 52-48 percent.
State Rep. Josh Dobson, R-McDowell, was leading Democratic Wake County Commissioner Jessica Holmes for labor commissioner 51-49 percent. Current Commissioner Cherie Berry didn't seek re-election.
Longtime Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall defeated Republican E.C. Sykes 51-49 percent.
Republican Catherine Truitt was leading Democrat Jen Mangrum 51-49 percent for superintendent of public instruction. The current superintendent, Mark Johnson, didn't seek re-election.
Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell defeated Democrat Ronnie Chatterji 53-47 percent.

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