Politics of North Carolina
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2016) |
Year | Republican / Whig | Democratic | Third party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 2,758,775 | 49.93% | 2,684,292 | 48.59% | 81,737 | 1.48% |
2016 | 2,362,631 | 49.83% | 2,189,316 | 46.17% | 189,617 | 4.00% |
2012 | 2,270,395 | 50.39% | 2,178,391 | 48.35% | 56,586 | 1.26% |
2008 | 2,128,474 | 49.38% | 2,142,651 | 49.70% | 39,664 | 0.92% |
2004 | 1,961,166 | 56.02% | 1,525,849 | 43.58% | 13,992 | 0.40% |
2000 | 1,631,163 | 56.03% | 1,257,692 | 43.20% | 22,407 | 0.77% |
1996 | 1,225,938 | 48.73% | 1,107,849 | 44.04% | 182,020 | 7.24% |
1992 | 1,134,661 | 43.44% | 1,114,042 | 42.65% | 363,147 | 13.90% |
1988 | 1,237,258 | 57.97% | 890,167 | 41.71% | 6,945 | 0.33% |
1984 | 1,346,481 | 61.90% | 824,287 | 37.89% | 4,593 | 0.21% |
1980 | 915,018 | 49.30% | 875,635 | 47.18% | 65,180 | 3.51% |
1976 | 741,960 | 44.22% | 927,365 | 55.27% | 8,581 | 0.51% |
1972 | 1,054,889 | 69.46% | 438,705 | 28.89% | 25,018 | 1.65% |
1968 | 627,192 | 39.51% | 464,113 | 29.24% | 496,188 | 31.26% |
1964 | 624,844 | 43.85% | 800,139 | 56.15% | 0 | 0.00% |
1960 | 655,420 | 47.89% | 713,136 | 52.11% | 0 | 0.00% |
1956 | 575,062 | 49.34% | 590,530 | 50.66% | 0 | 0.00% |
1952 | 558,107 | 46.09% | 652,803 | 53.91% | 0 | 0.00% |
1948 | 258,572 | 32.68% | 459,070 | 58.02% | 73,567 | 9.30% |
1944 | 263,155 | 33.29% | 527,399 | 66.71% | 0 | 0.00% |
1940 | 213,633 | 25.97% | 609,015 | 74.03% | 0 | 0.00% |
1936 | 223,283 | 26.60% | 616,141 | 73.40% | 40 | 0.00% |
1932 | 208,344 | 29.28% | 497,566 | 69.93% | 5,591 | 0.79% |
1928 | 348,923 | 54.94% | 286,227 | 45.06% | 0 | 0.00% |
1924 | 191,753 | 39.73% | 284,270 | 58.89% | 6,664 | 1.38% |
1920 | 232,848 | 43.22% | 305,447 | 56.69% | 463 | 0.09% |
1916 | 120,890 | 41.71% | 168,383 | 58.10% | 562 | 0.19% |
1912 | 29,139 | 11.95% | 144,507 | 59.24% | 70,272 | 28.81% |
1908 | 114,887 | 45.49% | 136,928 | 54.22% | 739 | 0.29% |
1904 | 82,442 | 39.67% | 124,091 | 59.71% | 1,285 | 0.62% |
1900 | 132,997 | 45.47% | 157,733 | 53.92% | 1,788 | 0.61% |
1896 | 155,122 | 46.82% | 174,408 | 52.64% | 1,807 | 0.55% |
1892 | 100,346 | 35.80% | 132,951 | 47.44% | 46,973 | 16.76% |
1888 | 134,784 | 47.20% | 147,902 | 51.79% | 2,877 | 1.01% |
1884 | 125,021 | 46.59% | 142,905 | 53.25% | 430 | 0.16% |
1880 | 115,616 | 47.98% | 124,204 | 51.55% | 1,126 | 0.47% |
1876 | 108,484 | 46.38% | 125,427 | 53.62% | 0 | 0.00% |
1872 | 94,772 | 57.38% | 70,130 | 42.46% | 261 | 0.16% |
1868 | 96,939 | 53.41% | 84,559 | 46.59% | 0 | 0.00% |
1860 | 0 | 0.00% | 2,737 | 2.83% | 93,975 | 97.17% |
1856 | 0 | 0.00% | 48,243 | 56.78% | 36,720 | 43.22% |
1852 | 39,043 | 49.49% | 39,788 | 50.43% | 60 | 0.08% |
1848 | 44,054 | 55.17% | 35,772 | 44.80% | 26 | 0.03% |
1844 | 43,232 | 52.39% | 39,287 | 47.61% | 2 | 0.00% |
1840 | 46,567 | 57.68% | 34,168 | 42.32% | 0 | 0.00% |
1836 | 23,521 | 46.90% | 26,631 | 53.10% | 1 | 0.00% |
Like most U.S. states, North Carolina is politically dominated by the
However, North Carolina has mostly elected Democratic governors in its history; only four Republican governors have been elected since Reconstruction, and of those only one served two terms.
History
Pre-Civil War
Historically, North Carolina was politically divided between the eastern and western parts of the state. Before the
Post-Civil War
After the Civil War, Republicans, including newly enfranchised freedmen, controlled the state government during Reconstruction. When federal troops were removed in the national compromise of 1877, the Democratic Party gained control of the state government, partly through white paramilitary groups conducting a campaign of violence (KKK) against African-Americans to discourage them from voting, especially in the Piedmont counties. Despite that, the number of African-American officeholders peaked in the 1880s as they were elected to local offices in African-American-majority districts.[3]
Hard-pressed poor cotton farmers created the
With the first step accomplished in 1896 by making registration more complicated and reducing African-American voter turnout, in 1898 the state's Democratic Party regained control of the state government. Contemporary observers described the election as a "contest unquestionably accompanied by violence, intimidation and fraud—to what extent we do not know—in the securing of a majority of 60,000 for the new arrangement".
20th century
By 1900 North Carolina joined the "Solid Democratic South", with black people still members of the Republican Party but powerless in state and local affairs. However, some counties in North Carolina's western Piedmont and Appalachian Mountains continued to vote Republican, continuing a tradition that dated from their yeoman culture and opposition to
In the mid-20th century, Republicans began to attract white voters in North Carolina and other Southern states. This was after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 under Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, which extended Federal protection and enforcement of civil rights for all American citizens. Because the Democratic Party had supported civil rights at the national level, most African-American voters initially aligned with the Democrats when they regained their franchise.[7] In 1972, aided by the landslide re-election of Richard Nixon, Republicans in North Carolina elected their first governor and U.S. senator of the 20th century.
Senator
]Except for regional favorite Jimmy Carter's election in 1976, North Carolina voted Republican in every presidential election from 1968 to 2004. At the state level, however, the Democrats still controlled most of the elected offices during this time. In the middle of the 20th century, North Carolina politics followed a more moderate course than in other conservative Southern states, leading it to gain a reputation as progressive. Political scientist V. O. Key Jr. wrote in his 1949 work, Southern Politics in State and Nation, that North Carolina met "a closer approximation to national norms, or national expectations of performance, than elsewhere in the South. It enjoys a reputation for progressive outlook and action in many phases of life, especially industrial development, education and race relations."[8] However, by the late 1970s, the state's reputation was subjected to increasing scrutiny brought on by the Wilmington Ten criminal case and declining indexes of social and economic well-being.[8]
Two
21st century
North Carolina remains a
By 2005, every state surrounding North Carolina had a lottery in operation. That same year, following substantial political maneuvering, the state legislature voted to implement the North Carolina Education Lottery. The state lottery began selling tickets on March 31, 2006. The lottery has had low sales since its inception.[10]
President George W. Bush carried North Carolina by double-digit percentages in 2000 and 2004, but in 2008, a strong year for the Democratic Party, its presidential candidate Barack Obama narrowly defeated Republican candidate John McCain in North Carolina, 49.7% to 49.4%, becoming the first Democratic presidential nominee to win the state in 32 years. In 2012, North Carolina returned to the Republican column with Mitt Romney defeating Obama 50.3% to 48.3%. Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, both Republicans, represent the state in the US Senate.
The Democratic Party's strength is increasingly centered in densely populated urban counties such as
In 2010 the Republicans won a majority of both houses of the state legislature for the first time since 1898. Whereas previous congressional redistricting plans for the state had favored Democrats, the newest plan is expected to favor Republicans. In 2012 the state also elected its first Republican governor and lieutenant governor, Pat McCrory and Dan Forest, in more than two decades while also giving the Republicans veto-proof majorities in both the State House of Representatives and State Senate. Several U.S. House of Representatives seats also flipped control, with the Republicans currently controlling ten seats to the Democrats' three.
In 2016, federal courts struck down many of voting restrictions and
As of 2017, judges in state courts must identify their party affiliation on ballots, making North Carolina the first state in nearly a century to adopt
Third parties
Since the collapse of the Populists around the turn of the 20th century,
In 2016, the Green Party came close to gaining statewide ballot access, closer than the other six new parties, but still fell short of getting the required number of signatures.
Federal representation
North Carolina currently has 14
- North Carolina's 1st congressional district represented by Don Davis (D)
- Deborah K. Ross(D)
- North Carolina's 3rd congressional district represented by Greg Murphy (R)
- North Carolina's 4th congressional district represented by Valerie Foushee (D)
- North Carolina's 5th congressional district represented by Virginia Foxx (R)
- North Carolina's 6th congressional district represented by Kathy Manning (D)
- North Carolina's 7th congressional district represented by David Rouzer (R)
- North Carolina's 8th congressional district represented by Dan Bishop (R)
- North Carolina's 9th congressional district represented by Richard Hudson (R)
- North Carolina's 10th congressional district represented by Patrick McHenry (R)
- North Carolina's 11th congressional district represented by Chuck Edwards (R)
- North Carolina's 12th congressional district represented by Alma Adams (D)
- North Carolina's 13th congressional district represented by Wiley Nickel (D)
- North Carolina's 14th congressional district represented by Jeff Jackson (D)
North Carolina's two United States Senators are Republicans Thom Tillis and Ted Budd, serving since 2015 and 2023, respectively.
North Carolina is part of the United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina, United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, and the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina in the federal judiciary. The district's cases are appealed to the Richmond-based United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
See also
- Elections in North Carolina
- Government of North Carolina
- Political party strength in North Carolina
- Politics of the United States
- Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era
- Voting rights in the United States
- Law of North Carolina
References
- ^ Leip, David. "Presidential General Election Results Comparison – North Carolina". US Election Atlas. Retrieved October 24, 2022.
- ^ "North Carolina Presidential Election Voting History - 270toWin".
- ^ Michael J. Klarman, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality, New York: Oxford University Press, 2006, p. 30
- ^ Richard H. Pildes, "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon", Constitutional Commentary, Vol.17, 2000, p. 27 Archived 2018-11-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
- ^ Shaw, Albert (2007-05-29). Albert Shaw, The American Monthly Review of Reviews, Vol. XXII, July-December 1900, pp. 273–274. Archived from the original on 2011-05-08. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
- ^ Richard H. Pildes, "Democracy, Anti-Democracy, and the Canon", Constitutional Commentary, Vol.17, 2000, pp. 12–13 Archived 2018-11-21 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
- ^ Historical Census Browser, 1960 US Census, University of Virginia [dead link]. Retrieved 13 March 2008.
- ^ a b "Rights cases hurt N. Carolina's image". Detroit Free Press. March 13, 1978. p. 22. Archived from the original on July 31, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions: North Carolina ABC Commission". Ncabc.com. Archived from the original on 2010-06-19. Retrieved 2010-07-02.
- ^ "Lottery commissioner says games are doing well despite low sales". WWAY NewsChannel 3|Wilmington NC News. Archived from the original on 2011-07-24. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
- ^ "North Carolina is no longer classified as a democracy". newsobserver. Archived from the original on 2016-12-31. Retrieved 2016-12-31.
- ^ Seipel, Seipel (Dec 23, 2016). "North Carolina is no longer a democracy: report". TheHill. Archived from the original on December 26, 2016. Retrieved Dec 26, 2016.
- ^ Fausset, Richard; Martin, Jonathan (23 December 2016). "Battle Lines Turn North Carolina's Moderation Into a Distant Memory". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 February 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- ^ "North Carolina's Iron Curtain". Wall Street Journal. 30 December 2016. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
- ^ "Political scientist: North Carolina "can no longer be classified as a full democracy"". Slate. Archived from the original on 31 December 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2016.
For instance, the US's overall rating (62) is below that of Rwanda, a full-on autocracy under strongman Paul Kagame; it seems foolish to infer from that that the US is less of a democracy than Rwanda.
- NYTimes.com. Archivedfrom the original on 19 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
- ^ Hogarth, Susan (2005). "Special LPNC Announcement: First victory in LPNC Lawsuit!!!". Libertarian Party of North Carolina. Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2008-07-22.
- ^ "NC Libertarians release candidate slate".[permanent dead link]
- ^ Mountain Xpress, September 1, 2016 - Party crashers by Dan Hesse Archived 2017-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Winger, Richard (6 December 2016). "Jill Stein Sets New Record for a Write-in Presidential Candidate in North Carolina". ballot-access.org. Ballot Access News. Archived from the original on 15 March 2017. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
- ^ Jacobs, Associated Press, Rusty (27 March 2018). "Green Party Now An Official Party In North Carolina". www.wunc.org. Archived from the original on 2019-07-12. Retrieved 2019-07-12.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Associated Press: Constitution Party Gets Enough Signatures to Get on Ballots". Archived from the original on 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- ^ "camharris.us". www.camharris.us. Archived from the original on 2014-12-31. Retrieved 2014-12-30.