2020 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election
The 2020 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 2020, to elect the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina , concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election , as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections . Primary elections were held on March 3, 2020.
In North Carolina, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are elected separately.
Incumbent Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest was re-elected to a second term in 2016, despite Republican Governor Pat McCrory losing reelection by a narrow margin.[ 1] Forest was ineligible to run for a third term due to term limits established by the Constitution of North Carolina . He instead unsuccessfully ran for Governor .[ 2]
The Republican Party nominated businessman Mark Robinson (a first time public office candidate), and the Democratic Party nominated state representative Yvonne Lewis Holley . Notwithstanding the winner, North Carolina would elect its first African-American lieutenant governor. Robinson won the general election, while Democratic incumbent Gov. Roy Cooper won re-election.
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
Eliminated in primary
Declined
Polling
Poll source
Date(s) administered
Sample size[ a]
Margin of error
Buddy Bengel
Deborah Cochran
Renee Ellmers
Greg Gebhardt
Mark Johnson
John Ritter
Mark Robinson
Scott Stone
Andy Wells
Undecided
Harper Polling /Civitas Institute [ 18]
December 2–4, 2019
500 (LV)
± 4.38%
5%
8%
7%
3%
3%
1%
4%
1%
1%
67%
Results
Primary results by county: Robinson—61-70%
Robinson—51-60%
Robinson—41-50%
Robinson—31-40%
Robinson—21-30%
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
Eliminated in primary
Withdrawn
Polling
Poll source
Date(s) administered
Sample size[ a]
Margin of error
Chaz Beasley
Yvonne Holley
Ron Newton
Allen Thomas
Bill Toole
Terry Van Duyn
Undecided
Public Policy Polling [ 26]
February 4–5, 2020
604
-
6%
7%
1%
4%
2%
5%
75%
Public Policy Polling [ 27]
January 10–13, 2020
509
-
3%
7%
2%
6%
2%
4%
77%
Results
Primary results by county: Lewis Holley—41-50%
Lewis Holley—31-40%
Lewis Holley—21-30%
Van Duyn—61-70%
Van Duyn—41-50%
Van Duyn—31-40%
Van Duyn—21-30%
Beasley—51-60%
Beasley—41-50%
Beasley—31-40%
Beasley—21-30%
Thomas—71-80%
Thomas—61-70%
Thomas—51-60%
Thomas—41-50%
Thomas—31-40%
Because no candidate in the Democratic primary won more than 30 percent of the vote, second-place finisher Terry Van Duyn was entitled to call for a runoff, or "second primary," if she chose to do so.[ 28] However, Van Duyn chose not to call for a runoff, and Yvonne Holley was awarded the Democratic nomination.[ 29]
General election
Campaign
Robinson controversy
The Republican nominee attracted controversy in September as a result of his social media posts alleging negative Jewish influence in Hollywood, among other complaints.[ 30] He claimed that the movie Black Panther was "created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanic marxist [sic]. How can this trash, that was only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets, invoke any pride?"[ 31] He also mischaracterized former first lady Michelle Obama as male and her husband Barack Obama as an atheist. Robinson stood by his comments in a September interview with Raleigh news station WRAL , stating, "I don’t back up from them a bit. May hurt some people’s feelings, some things that people may not like, but those are my personal opinions."[ 32]
Endorsements
Polling
Graphical summary
Poll source
Date(s) administered
Sample size
Margin of error
Mark Robinson (R)
Yvonne Lewis Holley (D)
Other
Undecided
East Carolina University [ 35]
October 27–28, 2020
1,103 (LV)
± 3.4%
47%
43%
2%[ b]
8%
Cardinal Point Analytics (R)[ 36]
October 27–28, 2020
750 (LV)
± 3.6%
45%
44%
–
12%
Meeting Street Insights (R)[ 37]
October 24–27, 2020
600 (LV)
± 4%
46%
47%
–
–
SurveyUSA [ 38]
October 23–26, 2020
627 (LV)
± 4.9%
47%
44%
–
9%
Harper Polling /Civitas (R)[ 39]
October 22–25, 2020
504 (LV)
± 4.4%
43%
46%
–
10%
East Carolina University [ 40]
October 15–18, 2020
1,155 (LV)
± 3.4%
47%
42%
1%[ c]
9%
East Carolina University [ 41]
October 2–4, 2020
1,232 (LV)
± 3.2%
45%
45%
2%[ d]
9%
Harper Polling /Civitas (R)[ 42]
September 17–20, 2020
612 (LV)
± 3.96%
43%
40%
–
16%
SurveyUSA [ 43]
September 10–13, 2020
596 (LV)
± 5.6%
41%
41%
–
18%
East Carolina University [ 44]
August 29–30, 2020
1,101 (LV)
± 3.4%
43%
40%
3%[ e]
14%
Cardinal Point Analytics (R)[ 45]
July 22–24, 2020
735 (LV)
± 3.6%
46%
38%
–
16%
Cardinal Point Analytics (R)[ 45]
July 13–15, 2020
547 (LV)
± 4.2%
43%
39%
–
18%
Results
By congressional district
Robinson won 8 of 13 congressional districts.[ 47]
Notes
^ a b Key: A – all adults RV – registered voters LV – likely voters V – unclear
^ Did/would not vote with 2%
^ Would/did not vote with 1%
^ Would not vote with 2%
^ "Some other candidate" with 3%; would not vote with 1%
References
^ Leslie, Laura (November 9, 2016). "Split-ticket voting leads to mix of Democratic, Republican wins in NC" . WRAL .
^ "Dan Forest will hold campaign kick off rally in August" . North State Journal . July 10, 2019. Retrieved July 10, 2019 .
^ "The NCGOP's Lt. Gov. Candidate Apparently Thinks the Coronavirus Is a "Globalist" Conspiracy to Destroy Donald Trump" . Indy Week . March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 30, 2020 .
^ "Man whose pro-gun speech went viral announces candidacy for lieutenant governor" . The Richmond Observer . July 3, 2019. Retrieved September 15, 2019 .
^ "New Bern resident, baseball team owner Bengel running for lieutenant governor" . WCTI 12 . Associated Press. June 3, 2019.
^ "Cochran announces bid for lieutenant governor" . The Mount Airy News . May 20, 2018.
^ Brufke, Juliegrace (March 27, 2019). "Renee Ellmers announces bid for North Carolina lieutenant governor" . The Hill .
^ "Greg Gebhardt announces bid for NC lieutenant governor" . Blue Ridge Now . July 22, 2019.
^ Ball, Billy (October 3, 2018). "Superintendent Mark Johnson's new website may have broken North Carolina law" . NC Policy Watch .
^ "State Superintendent Mark Johnson joins the field seeking to be NC lieutenant governor" . The News and Observer . November 12, 2019.
^ "2020 North Carolina state candidate list" (PDF) . Retrieved December 19, 2019 .
^ a b Harrison, Steve (April 9, 2019). "Scott Stone Makes It Official, Says He's Running for Lt. Governor" . WFAE. Retrieved April 10, 2019 .
^ "Sen. Wells to run for NC Lt. Governor" . The Taylorsville Times . September 12, 2019. Retrieved September 18, 2019 .
^ Nielsen, Paul (February 9, 2019). "Rep. Brody has thought about running for lieutenant governor" . Union County Weekly . Archived from the original on April 28, 2021. Retrieved April 28, 2021 .
^ Dunn, Andrew (January 7, 2019). "Jim Puckett considering campaign for lieutenant governor" . Longleaf Politics . Archived from the original on April 14, 2019. Retrieved September 16, 2019 .
^ "Puckett will run for his old seat on Meck County Board of Commissioners" . NC Business Today . July 29, 2019.
^ Mutnick, Ally; Arkin, James (December 12, 2019). "Mark Walker's political future in jeopardy after redistricting" . Politico .
^ Harper Polling/Civitas Institute
^ a b "NC SBE Contest Results" . er.ncsbe.gov . North Carolina Board of Elections. Retrieved June 5, 2020 .
^ "Chaz Beasley announces run for lieutenant governor in NC" . WCNC . March 21, 2019.
^ "NC State Board of Elections: State candidate list by contest" (PDF) . Retrieved August 18, 2024 .
^ Woolverton, Paul (March 10, 2019). "Two from Fayetteville-Fort Bragg region in lieutenant governor race" . The Fayetteville Observer .
^ Barrett, Michael (March 13, 2019). "Former Belmont city councilman eyes lieutenant governor's seat" . Gaston Gazette .
^ Boyle, John; Wadington, Katie (December 10, 2019). "Terry Van Duyn announces 2020 run for NC lieutenant governor" . Asheville Citizen-Times .
^ Morrill, Jim (June 17, 2018). "Democrat Cal Cunningham enters US Senate race, and draws fire from both sides" . The Charlotte Observer . Retrieved September 15, 2019 .
^ Public Policy Polling
^ Public Policy Polling
^ Thompson, David. "WNC's Terry Van Duyn weighs runoff in Democratic lieutenant governor race" . The Asheville Citizen Times . Retrieved August 18, 2024 .
^ Vaillancourt, Cory. "Van Duyn won't call for runoff in lieutenant governor election" . www.smokymountainnews.com . Retrieved March 11, 2020 .
^ "NC Endorsements" . The Charlotte Observer . September 30, 2020. Retrieved October 6, 2020 .
^ Billman, Jeffrey (March 27, 2020). "The NCGOP's Lt. Gov. Candidate Apparently Thinks the Coronavirus Is a "Globalist" Conspiracy to Destroy Donald Trump" . Indy Week . Retrieved October 6, 2020 .
^ Fain, Travis (September 25, 2020). "On Facebook, NC's Republican candidate for lieutenant governor lashes out, insults" . WRAL . Retrieved October 6, 2020 .
^ "Endorsements: Our choices for NC Lt. Gov, Attorney General, Auditor, Treasurer and Insurance" . The Charlotte Observer . October 21, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2022 .
^ McDonald, Thomasi; Tauss, Leigh; Blest, Paul (October 14, 2020). "2020 Endorsements: Council of State" . INDY Week . Retrieved August 10, 2022 .
^ East Carolina University
^ Cardinal Point Analytics (R)
^ Meeting Street Insights (R) Archived 2020-10-31 at the Wayback Machine
^ SurveyUSA
^ Harper Polling/Civitas (R)
^ East Carolina University
^ East Carolina University
^ Harper Polling/Civitas (R)
^ SurveyUSA
^ East Carolina University
^ a b Cardinal Point Analytics (R)
^ "State Composite Abstract Report - Contest.pdf" (PDF) . North Carolina State Board of Elections . Retrieved November 24, 2020 .
^ "DRA 2020" . Daves Redistricting . Retrieved August 18, 2024 .
External links
Official campaign websites
U.S. President U.S. Senate U.S. House (election ratings ) Governors Attorneys general Secretaries of state State treasurers State legislatures
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan House
Minnesota
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Puerto Rico
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
Mayors
Bakersfield, CA
Baltimore, MD
Baton Rouge, LA
Clearwater, FL
Corpus Christi, TX
El Paso, TX
Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fresno, CA
Honolulu, HI
Irvine, CA
Lubbock, TX
Mesa, AZ
Miami-Dade County, FL
Milwaukee, WI
Phoenix, AZ
Portland, OR
Richmond, VA
Riverside, CA
Sacramento, CA
Salt Lake County, UT
San Diego, CA
San Juan, PR
Santa Ana, CA
Stockton, CA
Tulsa, OK
Virginia Beach, VA
Wilmington, DE
Winston-Salem, NC
Local
Clearwater, FL
Cook County, IL
Los Angeles, CA
Los Angeles County, CA
New Castle County, DE
Orange County, CA
Portland, OR
San Diego, CA
San Diego County, CA
San Francisco, CA
Washington, DC
Statewide Related