This 2024 promises to be a politically intense year for North Carolina, with elections for the highest state offices in the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
The competition begins on March 5, when the presidential, congressional and state primaries are held. During these primary elections, the voters will choose the candidate of each party in each competition, to go to the general elections on November 5.
federal positions
North Carolina will have elections for each of the 14 districts of the federal House of Representatives, as well as the election of the president of the nation.
This year there is no election for either of the two federal senator positions, which serve six-year terms, and can be re-elected.
The representatives to the Lower House serve two-year terms, and will be in the competition.
General Assembly and Council of State
This year all seats in the State Legislature are at stake, all 50 seats in the Senate and 120 seats in the House of Representatives will be on the ballot.
The officials of both chambers are elected every two years, and can seek re-election without limit. They are currently controlled by the Republican Party.
On the other hand, the officials of the State Council , which is made up of 10 executive offices , which includes: the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, auditor, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction, labor commissioner, insurance commissioner, and agriculture commissioner.
Officials in this branch of state government serve four-year terms.
In the 2020 elections, the Council of State was made up of 4 Democrats and 6 Republicans.
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State judicial branch
In the state judicial branch, one of the seven positions in the judicial branch will be in partisan competition. Supreme Court of the State, whose eight-year term expires on December 31, 2024.
Currently seat 6 is occupied by a Democratic judge. Three of the 15 judges of the Court of Appeals (Seat 12, Seat 14, Seat 15) whose eight-year terms will expire on January 1, 2025. The three partisan positions can seek re-election if they wish to serve again.
Some of the positions will have Democratic or Republican primaries.
Local elections
This year several counties and municipalities will have elections for Boards of Commissioners and Boards of Education.
Likewise, judges of the Superior Court, District Court, district prosecutors, secretaries of the Superior Court and officials of the Registry of Deeds office will be elected. In addition, municipal elections will be held in Raleigh, where the mayor and City Council will be elected, as well as in Winston-Salem.
What will be at stake
President's office
This year with presidential elections occurring every four years, North Carolina returns to the battlefield as a “purple state” also called a “pendulum.” That is to say, it does not have a defined voting pattern towards either of the two traditional parties, Republican and Democrat.
This has been seen in recent presidential elections with very close competitions, such as in 2020 when Donald Trump won the state by a narrow margin of 74 thousand votes over Joe Biden. That is why experts predict a similar competition this year.
Recently, the State Board of Elections (SBOE) released the names of the presidential candidates who will be on the ballot, which includes Biden, as the only Democrat.
On the Republican side, Trump was finally included in the voting ballotl of North Carolina, when in other states there are demands to exclude him from the primary votes on March 5 and he will face six other Republican candidates in the March 5 primaries.
Likewise, there will be Libertarian Party primaries with 10 candidates.
Federal House of Representatives
Democrats will compete for 12 of the 14 congressional seats, leaving districts 3 and 6 without their party's candidate.
Republicans have 50 candidates running to represent the 14 seats, with at least one candidate for each.
On the other hand, 14 Republicans registered to run in the primaries for District 13, where its incumbent decided not to run citing changes in his district.
The libertarians will participate for four seats, while the Green party will do so in District 2.
Elections 2024 in North Carolina
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State Legislature
With both chambers controlled by the Republican Party, a fierce battle is expected with the Democrats in their attempt to remove absolute Republican control.
Senate : Democrats have 58 candidates competing for each of the 50 seats. While the Republicans have 46 candidates for 42 positions, leaving eight positions unopposed.
The Republicans will have only 4 primaries, and the Democrats six. Libertarians are running for 13 senatorial districts.
House of Representatives : 136 Democrats are running for 118 of the 120 seats, the other two districts are secured by Republicans. Democrats will have 13 primaries.
Republicans have 124 candidates competing for 95 seats. The other 25 are secured by Democrats.
Twenty-two seats will have primaries to determine the Republican candidate for November.
District 9 is the only one that has a primary election for both Democrats and Republicans. For their part, the libertarians will compete in 16 of the positions.
Governor
Another high-profile election is the gubernatorial election, in which a crushing competition is anticipated to succeed Roy Cooper, between the Democratic candidate, the current attorney general Josh Stein, and the Republican lieutenant governor, Mark Robinson, if he wins in the primary.
Stein will face four other candidates in the primaries, but he emerges as the winner in this race. Robinson will compete against three other Republicans, including current state Treasurer Dale Folwell, Bill Graham, a Salisbury attorney, and Andy Wells, a member of the North Carolina Transportation Board and former member of the state legislature. .
Lieutenant Governor
With the current lieutenant governor mark robinson seeking higher office, the race for North Carolina's next lieutenant governor is wide open.
Nine Republicans, including a Latina candidate, Marlenis Hernandez Novoa, will seek to win the nomination from the Republican party.
On the Democratic side, only two candidates, Rachel Hunt, daughter of former North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt and current state senator, and former state Sen. Ben Clark will compete to be on the Nov. 5 ballot.
State Council
On the other hand, there are close competitions in the primaries for some of the positions in the Council of State, in which there will be six sure changes of command, which includes the governor, the vice governor, the auditor, the attorney general, the treasurer and the labor commissioner.
Only four incumbents on the Council will seek re-election: the commissioner of agriculture, the superintendent of Public Instruction, the commissioner of insurance and the secretary of state.
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