2020 North Carolina lieutenant gubernatorial election
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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.
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November 3, 2020
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   Robinson: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Holley: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 50% | |||||||||||||||||
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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
- Mark Robinson, businessman[3][4]
Eliminated in primary
- Buddy Bengel, North Carolina Education Lottery commissioner[5]
- Deborah Cochran, former mayor of Mount Airy[6]
- Renee Ellmers, former U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 2nd congressional district[7]
- Greg Gebhardt, North Carolina National Guardsman and U.S. Army veteran[8]
- Mark Johnson, North Carolina Superintendent of Public Instruction[9][10]
- John L. Ritter, attorney[11]
- Scott Stone, former state representative[12]
- Andy Wells, state senator[13]
Declined
- Mark Brody, state representative[14]
- Jim Puckett, Mecklenburg County commissioner[15][16]
- Mark Walker, incumbent U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 6th congressional district[17]
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
Robinson
- Robinson—61-70%
- Robinson—51-60%
- Robinson—41-50%
- Robinson—31-40%
- Robinson—21-30%
Wells
- Wells—41-50%
Ritter
- Ritter—31-40%
Ellmers
- Ellmers—21-30%
Cochran
- Cochran—41-50%
Stone
- Stone—11-20%
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Robinson | 240,843 | 32.52% | |
| Republican | Andy Wells | 107,824 | 14.56% | |
| Republican | Mark Johnson | 89,200 | 12.04% | |
| Republican | John L. Ritter | 85,023 | 11.48% | |
| Republican | Renee Ellmers | 50,526 | 6.82% | |
| Republican | Greg Gebhardt | 50,474 | 6.81% | |
| Republican | Deborah Cochran | 48,234 | 6.51% | |
| Republican | Scott Stone | 48,193 | 6.51% | |
| Republican | Buddy Bengel | 20,395 | 2.75% | |
| Total votes | 740,712 | 100.00% | ||
Democratic primary
Candidates
Nominee
- Yvonne Lewis Holley, state representative[12]
Eliminated in primary
- Chaz Beasley, state representative[20]
- Ron Newton, candidate for lieutenant governor in 2016[21]
- Allen Thomas, Hoke County commissioner[22]
- Bill Toole, environmental attorney, former Belmont city councilman, and former chairman of the Gaston County Democratic Party[23]
- Terry Van Duyn, state senator[24]
Withdrawn
- Cal Cunningham, former state senator (ran for the U.S. Senate)[25]
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
Lewis Holley
- Lewis Holley—41-50%
- Lewis Holley—31-40%
- Lewis Holley—21-30%
Van Duyn
- Van Duyn—61-70%
- Van Duyn—41-50%
- Van Duyn—31-40%
- Van Duyn—21-30%
Beasley
- Beasley—51-60%
- Beasley—41-50%
- Beasley—31-40%
- Beasley—21-30%
Thomas
- Thomas—71-80%
- Thomas—61-70%
- Thomas—51-60%
- Thomas—41-50%
- Thomas—31-40%
Toole
- Toole—31-40%
Newton
- Newton—51-60%
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Yvonne Lewis Holley | 309,274 | 26.58% | |
| Democratic | Terry Van Duyn | 237,885 | 20.44% | |
| Democratic | Chaz Beasley | 219,503 | 18.86% | |
| Democratic | Allen Thomas | 219,229 | 18.84% | |
| Democratic | Bill Toole | 111,843 | 9.61% | |
| Democratic | Ron Newton | 65,970 | 5.67% | |
| Total votes | 1,163,704 | 100.00% | ||
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
Yvonne Lewis Holley (D)
Newspapers
Polling
View source data.
| 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
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mark Robinson | 2,800,656 | 51.63% | −0.18% | |
| Democratic | Yvonne Lewis Holley | 2,623,458 | 48.37% | +3.05% | |
| Total votes | 5,424,114 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican hold | |||||
By congressional district
Robinson won eight of 13 congressional districts.[47]
| District | Robinson | Lewis Holley | Representative |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 46% | 54% | G. K. Butterfield |
| 2nd | 37% | 63% | George Holding |
| Deborah K. Ross | |||
| 3rd | 62% | 38% | Greg Murphy |
| 4th | 34% | 66% | David Price |
| 5th | 68% | 32% | Virginia Foxx |
| 6th | 39% | 61% | Mark Walker |
| Kathy Manning | |||
| 7th | 59% | 41% | David Rouzer |
| 8th | 54% | 46% | Richard Hudson |
| 9th | 55% | 45% | Dan Bishop |
| 10th | 69% | 31% | Patrick McHenry |
| 11th | 57% | 43% | Madison Cawthorn |
| 12th | 31% | 69% | Alma Adams |
| 13th | 68% | 32% | Ted Budd |