By Paul Stam
Raleigh, NC – Here is the big picture at the local, state, and national level as those elected in 2024 are set to govern in 2025. For 2020 and 2022, I provided a similar scorecard.
Local level
Before the election, Republicans controlled 67 of 100 North Carolina county commissions. The GOP now controls 71 county commissions. Republicans flipped Martin, Perquimans, Scotland, and Watauga counties. Democrats control 24 counties, five have no majority. Democrats control commissions with greater county populations, so the population of counties controlled by the parties is about 50/50.
After the election of 2022, there were 54 GOP and 45 Democrat clerks of court. After the election of 2022, there were 64 GOP and 35 Democrat sheriffs and one unaffiliated. There were no elections for sheriff or clerk in 2024.
There were 170 school board races in districts with partisan elections. Republicans won 138 and Democrats 26, with six going to unaffiliated candidates. Of the 52 school boards elected on a partisan basis, the GOP won majorities in 38 while Democrats won six. A majority of school districts are still elected on a nonpartisan basis. Counties with nonpartisan boards tend to have larger populations. The number of schools governed by GOP members, and Democrat members are about the same.
State legislative level
Republicans lost one seat in the 120-member state House, winning 71 seats, just short of a “veto-proof” supermajority. The state Senate held steady at 30 Republicans, the three-fifths required for a veto override if all members are present and voting.
Results were uneven across the state. In the 78 counties won by Donald Trump, the GOP dominated. But in the 22 counties won by Kamala Harris, Democrats dominated. Wake and Mecklenburg have 38 legislators but only three of them Republicans — Erin Pare of southern Wake, and Tricia Cotham of southern Mecklenburg, and Michael Schietzelt of northern Wake. Senator Vickie Sawyer of Iredell represents a small part of Mecklenburg.
State judicial races
Republicans fared well in state judicial races but lost the sole state Supreme Court race in a nail-biter. Allison Riggs, appointed to complete the unexpired term of Michael Morgan, won by several hundred votes after two recounts. Legal protests and certification are still pending. Republicans maintain a 5-2 majority.
Chief Justice Newby’s 401-vote victory in 2020 for an eight-year term is still important. The chief justice directs the Administrative Office of the Courts and its thousands of employees in every courthouse. Some of these positions are independently elected or controlled, but statewide administrative control is in the chief through the Administrative Office of the Courts.
The one seat up for reelection in 2026 (Anita Earls) is also held by a Democrat, meaning that Republicans will retain a majority of the court through at least 2028. Three Republican seats — Newby, Barringer, and Berger — will be up in 2028. Most cases are not decided along partisan lines.
The Court of Appeals was a clean sweep for Republicans. All three races were won by highly qualified candidates. Their margins of victory ranged from 1% to 2%: Thomas Murry, Valerie Johnson Zachary, and Christopher Freeman. The Court of Appeals now includes 12 Republicans (Chief Dillon, Stroud, Tyson, Zachary, Gore, Griffin, Carpenter, Wood, Flood, Stading, Murry, and Freeman) and three Democrats (Arrowood, Collins, and Hampson). The Court of Appeals has never voted as an entire group. It has always voted in panels of three. Its decisions are very rarely decided along partisan lines. All three of the remaining Democrat-held seats will be on the ballot in 2026.
At the Superior Court level, Republicans won 21 races to the Democrats’ 12. There are now about an even number of Republican and Democratic Superior Court Judges, with several unaffiliated. Before 1994, there was only one Republican Superior Court Judge out of 90. At the District Court level, this year, Republicans won 69 seats, and Democrats won 59 seats, with an unaffiliated candidate winning one seat. Only seven were contested. There are now a few more Republican than Democrat District Court judges.
National level
President Trump carried North Carolina again in 2024. His 3.21% margin this year was similar to his 3.66% win here in 2016, but greater than his 1.34% margin in 2020.
Republicans barely held on to a majority in US House races, winning 220 seats to the Democrats’ 215. Democrats flipped nine seats (three each in New York and California, and one each in Oregon, Alabama, and Louisiana), while Republicans flipped eight (three in North Carolina, two in Pennsylvania, and one each in Michigan, Colorado, and Alaska).
North Carolina did not have a US Senate race in 2024. It was a good year for Republican Senate candidates nationally. They flipped seats in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Montana, giving the GOP a 53-47 majority. It was not a great night for Republicans, however. The GOP lost winnable races in Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada.
There will be 35 Senate races in 2026, including special elections to replace JD Vance in Ohio and Marco Rubio in Florida. Republicans are defending 22 seats, but only one of those is in a state Harris won — Maine. Democrats will defend 13 seats, including the Trump-won states of Michigan and Georgia.
While the precarious margin in the House may stymie some of President Trump’s agenda, the solid Senate majority will confirm most of his judicial and executive appointments.
Before the election, Republicans held 57 state legislative chambers, and Democrats held 40. Republicans flipped one chamber and now hold majorities in 58 chambers, while Democrats still control 40. The Minnesota House is evenly split. Each chamber of Alaska’s legislature is nominally Republican but will be controlled by bipartisan coalitions, with a less conservative Republican leading the Senate and Independent Rep. Bryce Edgmon as speaker of the House. Nebraska’s unicameral legislature is officially nonpartisan but controlled by registered Republicans.
The number of individual seats in the state legislatures gained or lost continues a trend since 2020. Before the election, in the 50 state senates (including Nebraska’s unicameral), Republicans held 1,112 seats, and Democrats held 857 seats. After the election, Republicans hold 1,132 State Senate seats, and Democrats hold 838, a net gain of 20 for the GOP and a net loss of 19 for Democrats.
Before the election, Republicans held 2,951 seats in the 49 state houses, and Democrats held 2,431. After the election, GOP members hold 2,994 state house seats, and Democrats hold 2,401, a net gain of 43 for the Republicans and a net loss for the Democrats of 30. The difference went to other parties. The number of representatives belonging to neither major party decreased from 23 to 18.
Republicans won eight of 11 races for governors’ mansions. Democrats won the remaining three, including North Carolina. No states were flipped. There are now 27 Republican governors and 23 Democratic governors.
Overall, North Carolina Republicans had good election results in 2024, but some of the biggest prizes, such as governor and attorney general, eluded them. Virtually all commentators would agree that the entirely predictable collapse of the Mark Robinson campaign (losing badly to Josh Stein) cost the GOP two or three Council of State races (now at 5-5) and probably the Supreme Court race. The reason is that Josh Stein was able to transfer multimillions of dollars in the weeks right before the election down to ballot races once he was ensured of a blowout victory.
Data came from the State Board of Elections unless otherwise linked.
Paul “Skip” Stam works as a real estate and state constitutional law in Apex. He served 16 years in the NC House, the last 10 years as the GOP leader or speaker pro tem. Stam serves on the John Locke Foundation board. For more information, see articles in www.paulstam.info